Christmas Task

Over the Christmas break, i was asked to document the holidays through photography. I did this by taking a photograph each day to show what i was doing or where I was on each day. 

Here are the photographs I took, each titled with the day on which they were taken.

22nd December 2014

This is the first photograph which I took as part of this task. This is a photograph of some red baubles situated on my black Christmas tree. The location of this photograph is my front room in my house and the time of day which this photograph was taken was reasonably late in the evening meaning that the lighting in this photograph is reliant on artificial lighting and the flash on my camera. The artificial lighting in this photograph is provided by the main light in the room which gives off a yellow-ish glow however the light which can be seen within the photograph looks white, this is because of the flash on my camera which emits a bright white light. the lighting in this photograph works well because the baubles inn the foreground of the image are prominent and stand out whereas the branches of the Christmas tree are darker and fade into the background slightly meaning the main focus of the image is the bright red baubles.

23rd December 2014

This is the second photograph I took as part of this task. this is a photograph I took of a scent in my living room at home when I was watching the film Dumbo. The location of this photograph is again, the front room of my house. This photograph was taken in the late afternoon meaning that the sun was setting and the natural light which would have been let into the room via windows would have been reduced. This means that in order to be able to get sufficient light to take the photograph, artificial lighting would have to be used alongside any natural lighting which is present. From the top left hand corner you can see the small amount of natural light which is able to entre the room, this natural light was also entering the room from a window which is situated behind the camera and slightly to the right allowing a little light to be allowed into the room. The majority of the light in this photograph is emitted from the lights on the Christmas tree and the light from the television with the rest of the room being darker only lit with the orange glow from the Christmas tree lights. I feel that this lighting works well for this photograph it makes the television and the Christmas tree the main focus points of the photograph.

24th December 2014

This is the third photograph which I took as part of this task. This is a photograph of my friend with her 6 month old son in her arms while her son is holding onto her finger. this photograph shows my friends son sleeping in her arms gripping onto her finger. I really like this photograph as it shows the size difference between mother and son and it also shows the love and tenderness of the relationship they have together. This photograph only shows the two hands, with the baby's comforter just behind their hands. I purposely shot this image in this way as I wanted to capture the size difference in a sweet and more intimate way rather than just showing the difference in size by taking a full length shot of my friend holding her son. if I had have been to capture the image in this way, I would have lost some of the intimacy of this photograph and the impact of this photograph would have been less effective however the main point of showing the difference in size would still have been there. In addition to this, the lighting in the room when I was taking this photograph was dark and not ideal for taking photographs as it was the best way my friend could get her son to settle at this time. This meant that in order to get this shot, I was required to use my cameras flash. Before taking this photograph I made sure I asked my friend if it would be okay to use the flash as I did not want to unsettle her son who was peacefully sleeping in her arms. I feel that the lighting in this photograph works well as the photograph is clear and bright making it easy to see what is going on within the image. One way in which I could potentially improve this photograph would be to change the lighting slightly, by introducing some slightly yellow toned lighting, this would make the photograph look warmer therefore emphasising the idea of the tender and loving relationship shown within this photograph. However, one bad thing about this photograph is that the camera has been focused on the wrong point making the main subject of the photograph out of focus which is not ideal. As I used autofocus with this photograph, the camera has focused itself on the soft toy behind their hands rather than on the hands themselves which would have been the ideal shot. I would love to reshoot this photograph as i love the idea of the photograph but i do not like the fact that the main subject of the photograph is out of focus. if i was to reshoot this photograph, i would take extra time to refocus the camera so that the focus is on their hands and not the soft toy. this would make the photograph sharper and clearer and more appealing to look at overall.

25th December 2014

this is another of the photographs I took as part of this task. this is a photograph of my mum sitting at the dinner table on Christmas day laughing at something which someone who is out of the shot has just said. The location of this photograph is the dinner table on Christmas day at my older sisters house as this is where I spent Christmas day with my family. The lighting in this photograph is a mixture of natural and artificial lighting with light from a window which was behind the camera providing the main source of light and the artificial light from the kitchen adding to this a little. You can tell that the light which is coming from the kitchen is being emitted from an artificial ceiling light as the lighting changes from natural looking lighting to slightly yellow toned lighting which is common within artificial lighting which is used within the home. I like this photograph as is it very natural and not forced. You can see that the smile on my mums face is because she has found something funny and not because she is purposely forcing a smile for a camera, this is made obvious as she is looking away from the camera and at another person who she was talking to at the time. If I could change anything about this photograph it would be that I would close the door leading to the kitchen as the change from natural to artificial lighting in this photograph is a little distracting.

26th December 2014

This is another photograph i took as part of this task. this is a photograph of my one year old dog, Timmy and the location for this photograph is the front room in my house. When I was taking this photograph, I was just taking random photographs of things that I could see as i was playing around with the new camera i got on Christmas in order to see how it worked and Timmy sat on the floor by my feet as if to ask for his photograph to be taken. The way he has positioned himself in this photograph makes it look almost as though he is posing for the camera, which i think is a really nice touch to the image. The lighting for this photograph is reliant on artificial lighting as the living room light was on and  have used the flash on my camera to capture this photograph in the best possible way. Looking at this photograph, it is obvious that the flash on my camera has been used as it is clearly seen reflected in his eyes. As i wanted to capture this image quickly so Timmy didn't move, which he has a habit of doing, this means that the composition if this photograph is lacking as there are unwanted aspects included such as the table leg running all the way down the left hand side of the photograph and the small pink blur in the bottom right hand corner of the photograph. If I was able to reshoot this photograph, I would make sure the unwanted aspects were not included within this image.

27th December 2014

This is another photograph I took as part of this task and it is a photograph of the snow covered trampoline which is in the back garden of my house. To take this photograph, i chose to wait until it became dark outside and to use the flash on my camera. I chose to take this photograph in this way as i thought it would add more emphasis to the bright white snow and show off the the glistening ice within the snow itself. Taking this photograph in this way does have its disadvantages however, the main disadvantage being that the flash has reflected a little to much in the foreground of the photograph making the snow on the trampoline closest to the camera a lot brighter than the rest of the photograph. This brighter section of the photograph does not work well within this photograph as it draws the eye to this patch rather than the rest of the photograph which was intended to be viewed. If i was to re take this photograph i would try to find alternative ways of lighting this area in order to eliminate this bright patch and make the photograph more appealing to look at overall.

28th December 2014

This is the photograph i took for the 28th of December and as it a few days after christmas, i chose to go down into Baildon village and take a photograph of the Christmas tree which is put up in the centre of the village each year. In order to take this photograph, i chose to wait until late in the afternoon, when it had just started to get dark as i thought the combination of artificial lighing and small amount of natural lighting would work well together for this photograph. You can tell from the colour of the sky in this photograph that it was not fully dark at the time of taking this photograph, yet it was dark enough for the street lights to be on and the lights on the christmas tree to be bright and visible. The main reason i waited until it was getting dark to take this photograph is because of the lights on the chrstmas tree as i thought they looked nice when lit and they are not visible in daylight and if it were to be completely dark when taking this photograph, not much else would have been visible except the street lights and the lights on the tree. The Christmas tree is the main focus point of this photograph, however, the rest of the village is shown in the background of the photograph and is lit by the orange glow of the street lights. I like this photograph as i think the contrast between the multicoloured lights on the christmas tree and the orange light which is cast over the entire village is interesting and very aesthetically pleasing. 

29th December 2014

This is another photograph i took for this task which is focused around the snow which fell around this time in December.This time, i chose to take a trip to Baildon moors when i found a snowman which somebody had build previously overlooking the large snowy area in front of him. As there was only a small amount of snow which fell at this time, this means that there are patches of grass which peek out through the snow and there is a lot of grass, especially in the background of the photograph, which does not appear to have much, if any snow covering it. The contrast in colours between the snow and the grass peeking through it is one of the main things i like about this photograph as i believe it adds interest to the photograph and is more appealing than if i were to have taken the same photograph but with the entire scene white over. I took this photograph during the mid afternoon, around 2 O'clock relying solely on natural lighting and as this time of year has extremely short days, the light at this time was beginning to fade, this is why the lighting within this photograph is not as bright as it could have been. However, i feel that the lighting within this photograph works well as the setting sun predominantly illuminates the top portion which, if left any later when taking the photograph, would have been a little too dark. the top part of this photograph has been lit in such a way that the photograph seems to have been evened out as the top part of the photograph needs to be lit enough so that it does not look too dark and out of place against the bright white snow in the foreground and i feel this has been done well within this photograph and i am very pleased with the way this photograph has turned out.

30th December 2014

This is a photograph i took while i was out at the opticians just after getting my eyes tested. This was just a qhich photograph which i captured with my mobile phone as i was in a bit of a rush to get things done this day and did not have time to get a fully considered shot. As this shot was quick and not well considered, this means that the entire photograph is off centre and a little wonky. This could be corrected if i had spent a little more time when taking this photograph and ensured that the photograph would be straight. As this photograph was taken within an indoor location, the lighting relies mainly on artificial lighting which was provided by the ceiling lights above.

31st December 2014

this is the photograph i look on new years eve whilst i was out. on new years eve, i went to see in the new year at a pub in baildon village with my boyfriend so this is a photograph i took while there. This is a photograph of the bar area and again this photograph was taken using my mobile phone as it was the most convenient to take out with me on that night. this photograph relies completely on artificial lighting which is present within the pub. There was not much lighting in this particular area however, the area at the back of the bar is well lit and i feel that this works well for this photograph as there is an array of colours in this section of the photograph and this was where i wanted the main focus point of the photograph to be and i feel that as this area is the brightest within the photograph the eye is drawn most to this area making it the main focus point as intended.

1st January 2015

this it the photograph i took for this project on new years day. I spent new years day just relaxing with my family and my boyfriend and spent most of the day playing pokemon with my boyfriend so this is what i chose to take this photograph of. This photograph is reliant on artificial lighting from the main light in my living room at home, however i feel that this was not the best lighting choice. I feel that the lighing in this photograph is slightly uneven, meaning that this photograph is unintentionally brighter and darker in different areas. if i was to re shoot this photograph, i would look into different lighting methods in order to get the photograph to be well lit while minimising the unwanted glare which can be created by the lighting.

2nd January 2015

This is the photograph that i took on the 2nd of January and it is a photograph in my bedroom and it was shot as i was lying on my bed. This photograph relies on the artificial lighting from the one ceiling light in my bedroom. i do not feel that this is the best lighting for this shot as the photograph comes across as quite dull whereas if the lighting was better, i feel that this photograph has the potential to look a lot better and a lot more eye catching than it currently is. this is one of the things which i would consider if i was to reshoot this photograph. in addition to this, this photograph was taken on my mobile phone, this could be a reason for the quality of the photograph not being as high as that of photographs taken with my camera. this means that this is another of the things which i would change or reconsider if i was to reshoot this photograph.

3rd January 2015

this is the photograph i took for the 3rd of january and is a photograph of a section of the shelf which holds my DVDs and my 3DS games. The location of this photograph is in my bedroom as this is there the shelf is location. The location of this photograph cannot be changed as the object which i have made the focus of the photograph (the shelf) is large and not easily moved to another location. i also feel that as the lighting within this photograph is reliant on the artificial light from the ceiling light in the room, the photograph is not as bright and eye catching as it could have been had the lighting in the room been better. if i was to re take this photograph i would try to find a way to improve the lighting situation in order to make the colours within the photograph to stand out more and be more eye catching. i feel that this would improve this photograph greatly.

4th January 2015

This is the final photograph i took for this task on the 4th of January and is a photograph of the book which i was reading at the time with my bookmark marking the page. as with the previous two photographs, the location of this photograph is my bedroom and the light was reliant on the ceiling light which does not give off the best possible lighting situation for taking photographs. in order to make this photograph more appealing, additional light sources would be beneficial. the correct lighting would hopefully eliminate the glare on the book mark which has been created by the the ceiling light and would make the while of the pages in the book brighter and make the blue of the book mark stand out more. the correct lighting would make a big different to this photograph as it would make the image a lot more appealing to view. As previously stated, the location for this potograph is my bedroom, however, this could be changed as the item which i chose to photograph is small and easily transported to another location and the photograph itself is not location specific and could have been taken anywhere.