DIYPhotography.net

There comes a time at any man's life, where he enters their workroom oh-my-god-kids-what-is-going-on-room and something smelled funny.

Smells metallic. Burning. My socks on fire? No.... What is it? Smelling my way towards the source, I found it to be my computer. Or more precisely, my four years old power supply's fan has decided to die on me. A dying fan means that the computer is heating up, which means that blue screens of death will pop in any second now.

I quickly went to the nearest computer store and bought myself a new unit with two fans. I figured if one will die the other one will still be there. Total cost - 65 Dollars. Definitely worth it.

Just before I throw the little guy to the little recycle bin in the sky, I wanted to say good buy in an appropriate, nice way. After all it did give me power for four years.

Loosing my power supply got me thinking that I need better backup to my pictures than the external hard drive I am currently using. After all my pictures are stored on my personal computer. If you have an idea, please post it in the comments section. I also went to reread some of the great stuff Brian has to say about backing pictures up.

So aside from the ode, there is also a setup shot and some explanations after the jump.

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One of the things I like best is High Speed Photography, it is an art that combines a hard technical challenge, along with an opportunity to have an artistic say. We've featured a few DIY articles about DIYing it, but nothing beats dedicated controllers.

This is why I was really happy to play a bit with the Universal Photo Timer - a heaven for High Speed Photographers. I'll write a review about it soon. (I know - the name says timer, but it is actually way more then just a timer) Till then, I'd like to share a High Speed shot I did, and with it the process of polishing a picture (or some aspects of it) till it is good. I will also discuss about what's missing from the final image. Click to continue ›

Welcome to the forth and last installment of Baby's Growth Stages Captured in Photography by Shannon Kietzman from My Baby Photos.

Now that your child has reached the toddler stage, there are so many exciting moments for you to capture on film! By now, your little one is moving around quite easily and is getting into everything he or she can find. For that reason, there are six broad categories of photographs for you to cover once your child reaches this stage. These include:

• On Your Feet
• Curiosity is King
• The Great, Big World
• Family Bonding Time
• Capturing Innocence
• Embarrassing Moments

With each of these special moments captured in your child's photo album, you will have plenty of cherished memories to share as your child grows older.

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Welcome to this multi-part series of articles on Exploring Small Strobes by Yanik Chauvin from Yanik’s Photo School.

In part 1 on Exploring Small strobes, I looked at why using flash guns instead of the built-in flash and studio strobes. Today, I’ll be going through the importance of using your speedlight off camera.

So, we already know that direct flash from your built-in flash gives unflattering results, to say the least. Using your speedlight in the same way won’t change much. I did mention that you can redirect the light by rotating the head of your flash gun and bouncing the light off ceilings and walls but you’re still very limited in your creativity. So what’s a photographer to do? I’ll tell you. Get that speedlight off your camera to unleash its full potential!

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As I said in the previous pool post, I am dedicating this pool to portraits. I was happy to discover (not that I did not know already) the diversity and variety of portraiture in the pool.

Then again, with 3,294 Members members this is no big surprise. If you have not joined DIYP Flickr group already, you are welcomed to so now. It is a great place to chat, explore images and share knowledge.

I did a little change in the way I am selecting the pictures, so if you see a new featured-on-diyp tag on your image, don't be alarmed. It means that your image will appear in DIYP pool post.

More Photodumps:
- Having Fun @ The Pool #5
- Having Fun @ The Pool #4
- Having Fun @ The Pool #3
- Having Fun @ The Pool #2 - What a Splash Click to continue ›

A while back, I asked your advice. I was contemplating between two lenses and did not which one to choose. I was being torn between the Nikkor 60m/2.8 and the Nikkor 85mm f/1.8 D.

I was leaning towards the 1.8 (AKA sharpy) and your strong response helped me to make up my mind. So first of all - thank you all for some great advice.

After a few months with this lens, I would like to share my experience with the lens. Now, don't expect a Ken Rockwell kinda review, Ken does this much, much better then I can. Instead, I'd like to talk a bit of the general experience that I had with the lens.

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Welcome to the third installment of Baby's Growth Stages Captured in Photography by Shannon Kietzman from My Baby Photos.

As your precious little bundle of joy grows older, you will notice a personality begin to emerge. In fact, during the first twelve months of your child's life, he or she will grow and change more rapidly than at any other age. Therefore, the key to taking photos of infants that are one year old or less is to capture their personalities, their curiosity and the natural wonder they express during the first months of life.

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With the economy plunging and, with our money worth less and less every day, I tried to make this link roundup more about DIY, photography gear, and generally stuff that will not make you go out and spend money.

This month we started two new series, one focuses on taking photos of kids (or even pre-kids) and has less to do with equipment and the other one deals with using small strobes. Did I say small strobes? DIYP gridspot giveaway is still open for the next week so jump in, the water's fine. Click to continue ›

I said is a few times before. Army surplus stores are a great place for photographer to hang out at and find some nice finds. I think that there is a strong connection between the needs of a soldier and the needs of a photographer.

One particular point where needs converge, is carrying equipment. It is only reasonable that both will need systems that will help them carry dedicated equipment. The soldier needs to carry riffle parts, bullets, field accessories; The photographer needs to carry lenses, small strobes, memory cards and so on.

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Not long ago, I wrote about Saxon PC Gridspots. If you are saying "Hey! What's a PC has to do with gridspots?" you'd like to read this article about using PC Chassis air flow control honeycombs as great light modifiers.

It gets better.

The guys at SaxonPC asked what they can do for DIYP readers. Can we have some gridspots? Sure! That was it, so there are 5 of those gridspots up for grabs. 

So, here is how it's gonna go. If you want one of those cool gridspots use the comments section below to let us know what you are going to shoot with it. Yes it is that easy:

1. Decide what you are going to shoot. 

2. Make a comment telling the world about it. Please include your Flickr account / mail address or any other way that will make it possible for me to contact you. Since there are only five of those to give out. Please be sure that you can make the final image in time. If you can not, you can add a comment with something fun to shoot, but tell that you are not here for the gridspot.

3. If you are selected, get ready to get a SaxonPC gridspot in about one week after the selection is made.

4. Take the image you planned and post it in DIYP.

In two weeks from today - that is November first, we will ship five gridspots to the readers with the best five shooting ideas. I am going to the sole judge for this. Two weeks later, we will post those five images here on DIYP.

The idea here is to go though an exercise in planning a shot and making it happen. I will not throw you in the deep water without some help:

- Building a Black Straw Gridspot and Portrait Ideas
- Film Noir Assignment @ Strobist

The other idea is to give away a few gridspots, so the two best shoots will also receive the gridspot mutipack.

There is no restriction on subject, number of flashes or special techniques. You can use an additional DIY gridspot, Gels, and other flashes, and light modifiers. Portraiture, still life and actions shots are all welcomed.

UPDATE: project is no longer taking submissions. Notification mails were sent to the winners. keep watching for final image. Click to continue ›