DIYPhotography.net

If you, like me, love film and anything about film, here is a great way to show your film appreciation.

This film canister illustration poster by Peter Hamilton features some of the old and wonderful film canisters of all time: Kodak, Kodachrome, Ilford, Kalt and Ansco.

Here is the product description, looks pretty analogish to me: "This 8" x 10" illustration is printed digitally on a heavy-weight, archival watercolor paper. This is a great, original art print features my personal stockpile of vintage film and honors the memory of film photography by highlighting these fantastic industrial designs. Photography lovers will love this print!"

As Tony Chammas noted on our facebook page, having this illustration printed digitally is kind of an Oxymoron :)

[Vintage Film Canisters - 35mm Film Art Print | $11.95 on Etsy ]

Thanks for the heads up, Inbal.

P.S. This incidentally came in while we are doing a related Karma Points Giveaway Click to continue ›

So, you probably read the news, two new sensor technologies were revealed this month, promising everything from flashless cameras (flash as in light popping device, not as in memory banks) to organic sensors that can one day overcome mankind.

While these are both revolutionary, I doubt we'll be seeing one of these in our cameras soon, the other one? not sure, may be a tad quicker.

Here is what I think about the new kids in town. Those, of course are my own thoughts, and if you think I am wrong, feel free to hit me in the comments. Click to continue ›

When taking photographs of the night skies there is a simple way to avoid smearing the stars and getting them sharp. (As opposed to star trails which are awesome, but different).

It's called the rule of 600, which is astrophotography's equivalent to the 1/focal length of shooting hand held. Basically the rule says that you cannot shoot with a shutter speed of over 600/<focal length> in seconds. So when using a 600mm lens for example, you can only keep the shutter for 1 second before star trails start showing up. (300mm lens can do 2 seconds, 10mm lens can do 30 seconds and so on).

This was once a very simple rule with 35mm cameras. It got complicated when different sensor crop factors were introduced. Actually, there is quite a bit of trigo-math involved concerning the angle of view. (you can check out Wikipedia if you want the hard math).

Kamil Tamiola made things simple by providing a tool that takes in the camera model and focal length, and provides the number of seconds you can leave the shutter open to eliminate star trails. It is simply called... Well Kamil did not name it, so I am gonna call it The Awesome Calculator To Eliminate Star Trails When Shooting The Night Skies. Click to continue ›

Here it is, the key cord handstrap. Probably the cheapest handstrap ever built. You only need a key cord (free at events, make sure you get the one with a clip), your quick-release-plate, a needle and some strong wire (I used nylon).

Why you even need a hand strap you ask? because it will help you carry a heavy camera and remove the strain from your hands. Cool, right?

Click to continue ›

Shooting a time lapse is quite a challenge. Shooting a good time lapse with changing lighting conditions adds complexity. The challenge is how to keep the time lapse both correctly exposed and smooth looking.

Preston Kanak has a detailed piece (with a matching video) on the three ways to win the day to night holy grail: Click to continue ›

Jordan Thornsburg of Macroscope Pictures came with one of the most brilliant monopod hacks I have seen to date.

It's called the pitchfork because the base has a 2 way devilish pitch fork on the bottom. While adding a second mounting point to a monopod mat seem trivial, it has a whole wide range of applications. Here are some off the cooler ones Jordan shares. Click to continue ›

If you surf Craigslist as a creative for hire it not uncommon to come across ads asking for film crews, sound man, photographers and interns in exchange for learning experience.

While sometime this is a fair deal (I know several photographers, I'd be willing to "intern" for) sometimes the interns are nothing more than coffee fetching gimps only gaining experience at drivers. Looks like things are about to change with a new ruling on the Black Swan Internship Lawsuit. Click to continue ›

If you need a big, nice soft light source one of the cheaper options is to use a small light combined with a diffusion panel, which is basically just a huge sheet of fabric. The question is how to support this mess of fabric that only wants to sit crumbled on the floor.

Kevin Kobota has a pretty slick tutorial on building a soft diffusion panel a-la Dean Collins style, very similar to Photoflex's LitePanels. Unlike the $350 LitePanel the DIY version only costs about $20 and an afternoon. The video covers the uses, materials, and build constructions + some interesting philosophy on transitioning from DIY gear to Pro. Click to continue ›

Photographer Wes Naman is no stranger to the world of weird pain inducing photography in the most hilarious way possible. He swept over the web once with his series of people wrapped in Scotch Tape, and now Wes is at it again with a new series of portraits of musicians encaged in rubber bands, while wearing a band T.

Naman explains to Wired about his motivation for using bands and musicians: Click to continue ›

I guess Rob Whitworth's work can fall under the definition of time lapse photography, though even if you beat the living heck out of me, I would not know how some of it was done.

Photographer Rob Whitworth and city explorer JT Singh takes an immersive approach into time-lapsing the city with god-like camera moves that seems impossible to achieve. The result is breath taking.

Below is Rob's last movie This is Shanghai followed by two of his earlier one's Kuala Lumpur DAY-NIGHT and Traffic in Frenetic HCMC, Vietnam. Sit back, go full screen and turn up the volume before hitting the jump. Click to continue ›