DIYPhotography.net

On our last poll, we asked a general (yet hard) question - what would you need to do in order to improve your photography.

There are some great responses there and thanks for everyone who opened up and answered this not-so-easy-to-expose question.

Our of that question a few main groups were identified

1. I need more time

2. I need better skills

3. I need better equipment

I have and will tackle all those issues on the blog, however this time I would like to focus on the third item - Gear.

This poll has a simple question - What is the next piece of gear on your shopping list, and I am not talking fantasy list here, I am talking about items that you can actually afford to buy and plan on using in the short term period.

It may be an item at the core of photography - a camera or a lens; A lighting aid like a strobe, flash or modifier, or something completely peripheral like a new computer or a new piece of software. Props, Straps, place, really anything that you feel will give you that push.

While you can form the answers in any way you'd like see if you can answer those two questions: what is the exact item (bad: a new lens / good: a Nikkor 85mm 1.8 lens) and how it will help your photography. Please be as specific as you can.

I'll go first: I am planning on getting a set of pocket wizards. I have had enough of misfires from my cheapo RF slaves and I feel that the price is worth removing the hustle annoyance and embarrassment of having the flash not pop when I need it too.

(If you are reading this via RSS, you may want to click through to read/share your thoughts) [(cc) Image credit fensterbme] Read more ›

Controlling your strobe from a distance has always been a priority for off camera flash photographers. If TTL works for you, you can extend your TTL cable quite a bit using a simple Cat5e hack.

But what if you could do this remotely. and I mean skipping the whole walking to the flash and adjusting it bit. (Or asking your assistant to do so, assuming you have an assistant). Up until now remote controlling your strobe like this was a benefit saved for Profoto Air Remote ($325 remote only) and profoto heads, or Radio Popper Jrx owners (Strobist review here).

Now this very exciting feature is available for the oh so cheap YN460 manual flash ($69 + about $10 in remote parts) - read the howto after the jump. Read more ›

In this post reader Bob Jordan walks us through a DIY one-piece, strobe modifier, which is kinda like a FlashBender. Which in turn kinda remind me of the Honl system (which also has a Honl DIY version).

I am a big fan of the Honl speed strap system and have been using it along with my DIY straps and other additions for a long time. The high control along with the very light weight serve as an excellent on the go modifier system. While I have never tried the Bender, it looks like a worthy alternative. <switching to Jondan> Read more ›

The post below shows a simple way to capture video while taking still pictures. Sure, there is some added weight and yea, video will not get a dedicated person and will just "follow along", yet, this is a neat way to achieve video with just one person shooting, This is also a great instructional tool for yourself to see how you interact with your model, what things work and what makes them shrink.

There are two versions for this mod - a dueler which mounts a DSLR with a video camera and a 9Shooter that also has sound attached. From now on it is all Elliot McGucken. Read more ›

We have featured some awsome gel holders on the site before. But never one with this simple approach. It is fast to mount, easy to use and leave no residue on the strobe.

It also fits any size flash and any size gel, how cool is that?

Thanks, Jerry R Hamby, for this awsome build. Read more ›

Caleb Charland is a photographer that captures the everyday physical phenomena which we never think about in a unique and inspiring way.

DIYP was lucky enough to have Caleb for an interview.

DIYP: Can you tell us about yourself and your background?

CC: When I talk about my work I need to share the experiences that made me wonder. Those moments when I began to think about the world, to show from where the pieces fell.

I grew up in a do it yourself household and learned to appreciate the power that tools and materials hold. Read more ›

Photographer David Martinez thought that $110 is a bit too much for a magic arm. He came up with his own version for half the price. It's all David from here.

Over the years I have found a few broken clubs laying near tee boxes on golf courses. Graphite shafts are usually very stiff and I always thought they might be repurposed. So I have collected a few of them. Well it just happened that I was in thinking about buying a Magic Arm recently. A friend had one and it was pretty sweet but the price was kinda crazy. Read more ›

Lately I've been finding myself wanting more out of my all around umbrella. I've been using the Westcott double fold umbrella for a long time now as my main on location modifier. While I am generally happy with it as a softening device, I wanted to have some more options in my bag without giving up on portability.

The Softlighter II by Photek provides an interesting option for that sake. I've been using it for a few days and in general I am pretty happy.

The images on this review are from a recent shoot for Jim Ridolfo profile pic. Jim Ridolfo is an Assistant Professor of Composition and Rhetoric at The University of Cincinnati. Read more ›

UPDATE: Martin Just added an explanatory image of the model along with a sketchup model for the matte box. See image and links at the bottom of the page.

DIYP don't often feature video or iPhone hack. It does, but not often. When I see a hack that is both video and iPhone, though, the little geek inside of me simply commands a post.

Reader Martin Taylor came up with a very cool teleprompter project. It requires nothing more than an iPhone, a Fresnel sheet magnifier and a sample piece of beam splitter glass. It is designed for 50mm lenses.

OK, a Teleprompter is the thing that news persons read from when they sit down. It's kinda like the scrolling opening of StarWars. (this is why it looks like newsman are watching ping-pong while broadcasting the news). The cool thing is that the camera sits right behind the teleprompter so it looks like the anchor is looking straight at the camera. Read more ›

Looks like the Strobist community is taking over the iPhone apps stores.

Two new members to that community - the new Studio Rig Locator and an iPhone port of SyLights.

SLR - Studio Rig Locator is an app that not only allows you to position lighting elements in the studio, but also allows a somewhat weird preview on the newly lit model. (this app is a paid app £3.49)

The other new iPhone App is a SyLights port to the iPhone. And really, I like the mobile version even more that I like the SyLights site (which is not that shabby at all). SyLights allows to create store and manipulate diagrams with loads and loads of studio equipment. Then those can be saved to your camera roll (iPhone's lingo for image directory). Best of all it is a free application.

both apps has intro videos after the jump. Read more ›