Christmas is always a great time of year and a standard opportunity to get some pictures so i had a couple of the lads around for some PS4 time and then it was up to the north for an early Christmas.

All of the pictures taken for this blog post were produced in quite low light situations, this was a great test for the low light capabilities of the lenses as well as the 5d Mk 3. The ISO level was quite high so this does introduce grain or noise into the picture with is not ideal but i could still get useable images

I was shooting wide open for all of these images on the 35mm at F/1.4 this does mean a very very shallow depth of field, leading to some images not getting the focus right, but be that as it may, when it does get it right the images come out very well.

I love capturing emotion and reactions which you will see from these and the pictures taken when i travelled up north to chelsea's family for christmas pt.1. In order to do this i try and be as discreet as possible when taking pictures. This can be difficult as the camera is massive, but if you can achieve this you can get amazing shots and not the staged, fake smile pictures that i hate.

As with the lads at my flat i was in a similar light situation with not the best light so was shooting again wide open at F/1.4 with the 35mm and F/2 with the 135mm lens. This meant that i needed to pick my spot very carefully in order to get focus.

I had taken up a position on the floor away from everyone (except chelsea who was next to me) this gave me a great field of view as everyone opened presents etc. This was great as i could go practically un-noticed as i went about taking a few images.

I did find it difficult to get tack sharp images in this warm,flat light but i dont think that in this instance it really mattered. It was about capturing reactions and expressions, which i think is more important.

I was also hindered by the table in front of me which did pull focus onto it quite often. i was shooting on AI server mode which was great for tracking movement but switched to manual control so the table was not always coming out in focus.

This manual focus helped me almost look through the table and glasses on it, and use what was on it to create contrast and warmth to the image. This helped with getting this image of Jerome and Heidi, through the glasses etc on the table with the 135mm lens. All focus could then be used on his eye looking at his new toy or the bow in her hair.

Family and friends are also your harshest critics so it is always good to practice on and these low or flat light situations are perfect to challenge me and make me thing of ways to get dynamic images without using a massive flash or a tripod.