Of all my dens as this was my favourite day time den i really wanted to capture this den looking beautiful and eerie at nigh too. I already found some of the day pictures to suggest the den as quite a creepy location with a lack of people but i find that these night time photographs have actually turned the den into more of a magical looking place. For the majority of the photographs i put the light inside the den and the way the light radiates out from inside the structure is very suggestive of life inside the den. We often associate light with life and i find in these photographs it is suggestive of a presence inside the den. 
Above is the best photograph that i took of the den as a whole radiating light. This image was taken in the blue hours after the sun has set which you can slightly see by the sky in patches through the leaves in the background. With this photo shoot as the photographs were taken underneath the trees, the den being built in the woods, the background is made up of the dark shadows of the trees rather then the sky like my previous shoot. I composed this photograph according to the rule of thirds with the den itself more over to the right side of the frame. I also positioned the light inside the den more to the right side of the frame and so the image is fairly weighted on that side of the composition. This contrasts quite well with having the bright blinding light of the den to the right and then in the sky the patches of light from the blue sky are on the opposite side of the frame, balancing the image. I took the photograph from a slight angle, not photographing the den straight on so you can see directly into the den but more from the side so the inside of the den remains more mysterious. By putting the light within the den you are able to see clearly how the structure of the den is made up of branches and leaves intertwined together and the light then shines through these gaps. The light quite literally radiates out from the points at which it escapes the inside of the den to create an interesting pattern of lines from the center of the den outwards. I think the effect is further emphasized by the light making the leaves it shines through a more vivid green, these bright green then contrasting with the red of the blanket.
The above image is taken in a completely different style, this image showing the light shinnign directly onto the structure of the den. I don’t dislike the images i took in this style, it just appears as if i have turned on the flash and taken the image with a bright flash. There is still an element of mystery to the den by having the background where the light cant reach as fairly dark but overall the image doesn’t have the same effect. The image i guess does have more of an impression of being abandoned as there is no light source inside the den which suggests a form of life. The red blanket in this image helps to draw out the dens structure as it becomes slightly lost like the day den images.
The above pictures i took trying to create soem creepy images which focused on branches like the day time pictures i took. By shinning the light upwards inside the den i could create a really eerie impression of the den as the branches were only illuminated in certain places so acted as silhouettes. This is further enhanced by having areas which were lit by the blue sky and having areas which were darker black colours from other branches blocking the light.
The above and below pictures are more images which play on the idea of having light shinning through the dens structure. I like the image below in particular as i used the rule of thirds to have the red blanket from the den across the right hand side of the image, one of the branches sweeping across the frame. The image works quite well in having the darkness of the night sky and lack of light being on the left hand side of the frame, this then becoming lighter as you move across the frame to the right. The light is right in the center of the image but mainly spreads out to the right due to the white patches of the blanket reflecting the light. The light greens again compliment the reds of the blanket.
These pictures are again taken with the light shinning onto the den rather then through it. I really like this effect in the above photograph as it allows the winding nature of all the branches weaved together to be really noticeable. The branches are a bright white which stand out vividly and the background is filled with shadows and darkness that again create a skeletal nature to the branches.
