Christmas Break

The subject of this image is a christmas tree with presents underneath it. The setting in a living room. To take this picture I layed on the floor and pointed the camera at an upward angle. After the roll was full I developed it and then created a contact print. After the developing the contact print, I enlarged this image as well as one of my dog. I chose this image because I felt that it best represented my winter break. I also liked the texture that was visible in the needles of the tree. This image displays a lot of contrast between the tree and the present which gives the image more depth.

One composition technique used in this image is angle up. I like to use angle up because I like to show different point of views in my photographs that make people think about perspective in a different way. Another technique used in this image is sharp focus. By using sharp focus you get the detail of the presents near you, but you can also see the detail of the christmas tree, which your eye is drawn to first. A composition rule used in this image in rule of thirds. As I said before your eye is first drawn to the christmas tree. This is because I used the rule of thirds. When I was first trying to enlarge this print it was difficult. All that was showing up on the test strip was the outline of the tree branches. To fix this I upped the aperture in an attempt to make the image darker by letting more light hit it.

The meaning behind this image is dreams don't always come true. The presents under the tree show what many children wish for, but never received because their parents can't get it. It doesn't even have to relate to christmas, many adults have dreams that are never met. To me this image shows family is important. When this picture was taken my whole family was at my house, my aunt, uncle, cousins, and grandparents. They all drove over 3 hours to get to our house, but they did it because family is important. If I could change anything about this picture it would be that the white blurs on the right side of the image were not there. I attempted to edit some of them out in photoshop, but it made the right side of the image look strange.