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10 things you can shoot, edit or create this month, from ice skating and cathedrals to winter foxes

- Wendy Evans

1 | STILL-LIFE

Bag yourself some pirate booty

Relive watching the umpteenth Pirates of the Caribbean film over the festive period with first mate Wendy Evans

Well, that's Christmas over with a Bacchanalian orgy of consumption and, of course, whatever pirate-themed film was showing on the TV and streaming services. Well, it was in my household, anyway. But if thoughts of golden treasure and peak Johnny Depp have been distracting you from the cold and rain outside, then why not involve your favourite pastime (not eating photography, remember?) and have a go at this project? You can either approach it from a still-life perspective, or get close-up and focus on a key element to make it a macro shot.

In fact, once you've got the scene all set up, why not try both? For the still-life, a candle is an essential component, but that's really more for effect: reflections, highlights and shadows. Unless you have quite a lot of candles, just one won't generate enough light. So you'll need an additional lighting source, which can be as simple as the window light next to where you set up, or more flexibly, a portable light source you can move around. I used a Rotolight Neo 2 (which you can get from MPB in excellent condition for £109), as this offers control over both brightness and colour temperature.

1 Arrange the elements

The more pirate-style things you have, the more flexibility there is in arranging them. However, you'll definitely need some gold coins, a weapon or two, a candle and, of course, a map. I got the coins and map from eBay for under a tenner each. The flintlock pistol was simply a prop.

2 Set up your lighting

Light the candle, but make sure the base doesn't get so hot that it sets light to the map. Test where the reflections and shadows from it fall. Add an extra light source to provide the main illumination.