If you are mounting your lights indoors you are safe, but what if you are outside in the blowing wind?
This is not the first time that two shooting hobbies meet. Last time I talked about weapons photography cases and rifle camera straps. This time Christian Hedegaard has a great idea to prevent your light stand from blowing in the wind. The materials? Right, from the gunshop. Here is Christian's story:
Not too long ago, I have posted an article about making a strobe from a disposable camera. I was soon after that I called out to the great community of DIY photographers to make a disposable ringlight from such disposable camera strobes. And why not - they are cheap, available and do not require too much power.
In my mind there were three main challenges in making this project work: 1. Chaining the camera flash units; 2. Triggering the ringflash remotely; and 3. Powering the individual flash units.
Dave Ajax (Divet) from the DIYP Instructables group has risen to the challenge. Dave was also kind enough to allow me to post the full tutorial on this site, keeping the great tradition on DIYP Instructable projects like the Time Lapse Photography project, the Ingenious Camera Stabilizer and the Muslin Backdrop project.
Build a disposable camera ring flash. Disposable cameras are discarded after the film has been removed. Photo labs often have boxes of them under the counter, waiting to be recycled. If you ask nicely, you can often get more than enough to experiment with. Try to get at least six for this project, all of the same type.
I have to hand to you, Ever since I started the "Readers Projects" Quest, I've been getting a ton of great DIY/Photography ideas and projects. After hitting it with the Thomas Schwenger's Complete Two Seconds Lighting Kit and the Christmas Tree Ring Light comes Ben's great project that does not have to do with lighting but can defiantly improve you life if you are one of those photographers that use a hand strap but disappointed from what the market has to offer. Click to continue ›
OK, I guess the pan in the title is well expected and not that original, but I really could not resist. If you are an aspiring photographer, a pro gonna be, an original thinker who wants to start a photography business, read on.
Chase Jarvis, the photographer behind all the photography-2.0 community-driven share-thy-knowledge buzz is offering a free sit to ASMP's SB2 event. Or in English American Society of Media Photographer Strictly Business 2 event).
Chase will happily provide you with transportation (If you are an Overseas like I am, transportation is from point of landing in US - anybody said New York?), accommodation and a free ticket to ASMP Strictly Business 3 days event.
In this event, you will hear lectures from top notch photographer and sharpen your photography business skill in areas like pricing your art, Freelancing, Marketing ad more (full agenda here).
To top whip cream with fudge, you'll get to hangout, share ideas and interact with a bunch of talented out-reaching photographers.
Head over to Chase's blog and (1) nominate yourself. You have 100 words for it so be concise, witty and charming. (2) Place a link to your photoblog / Gallery / site. (3) Cross your fingers and hope to get blessed.
PS - if you don't win the freebie, you can always register like the rest of us ordinary people - here.
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Nick Wheeler the photographer who brought you the DIY Strip Light and the Floor Lit Table Top Studio is playing with card board boxes again.
Answering to strobist's ringflash call, Nick created a simple softbox ringflash thingy that uses one strobe to create an awesome ring light effect. (If you really like ringlights, take a look at the huge ringlight collection).
If you did not visit Nick's stream lately, you should definitely head over there. Nick has some new shots from the previous projects (strip light and floor lit studio) with great setup shots. I tell you, sometimes I don't know whether to stare at the pictures or drool over the setup shots.
Nick has done a great job for this tutorial, packing it is great images to explain every little step. You can see how thinking of every aspect of the construction gives professional results.
Some time ago I wrote about taking art images for my mother in law. Since I don't have my dream lens yet, I had to compromise on the lens and use the great (but not ideal for this task) Nikon 18-70 lens. (The image to the lest if one of the original paintings)
I got a few mails and comments about the issue of getting closer to the pictures to make the picture fill a wider part of the frame.
Sample Comment (by 'Anon'):
Kind of a newb, but why would you have used a zoom lens? And at what
distance/mm? I would think 50-70mm would be ideal, or would getting any
closer affect the "family of angles" thing?
As Norm replied, the main issue of getting further from the image was the Family of Angles constraint. Let me explain:
Every once in a while comes that moment when you decide to get a new lens. For me this moment arrived about three weeks ago, when I decided that I deserve a nice photography treat my wife finally said yes, you can buy what ever you want, just stop talking about lenses all the time. (If you just want to learn what my winning lens is, go here and look at the second lens).
I would like to share the process I went through for selecting my next lens to purchase. I am not sure if the process was the best process that one can do to choose a lens, I post it here to help others in their choices. Please hit me in the comments if you find this process can be improved. So here is the tale of the duel between Sharpy (85mm/1.8) and Shorty (60mm/2.8 macro). Click to continue ›
Again, a busy week for me here in the DIYP world. After budget approval from the boss, it looks like I am getting me a brand new Nikkor - the 85mm f/1.8. I would like to take a minute to thanks everyone for helping me come to a decision. Choosing money wasters is always hard (and fun).
But more good things came to me in the last weeks, things fun and worth sharing. If you want to keep track of my likings you can join my friends on Stumble Upon.
Building a Home Studio Part 3
l7foto
Kerry from L7 foto is engaged in a project that has vast implication on any dude that got the boss's approval on turning the house garage into a home studio (and leaving the car outside to sunbath). This post is somewhere along the middle of his work. Check out the first two parts, and stay tuned for more.
Shooting Smoke Tutorial
Gosnap Photography
Ever since that great smoke photo buzz about a year ago everybody wanna take smoking shots. Shaun from Gonsap wrote a great tutorial about the setup and lighting he used for taking such smoked shots.
Dollar Store Gem: $1 Kick Light Stand!
Clique
Shaun from the Clique is going DIY. in this post he is using the simplest tripod of them all - the one from the everything-in-1-dollar-store - to make a portable light stand
Why are white lenses … white ?
Adidap.com
Have you ever wondered why some of Cannon's lenses are white? Antoine from ADIDAP is trying to cope with this interesting question. Inevitably he also tries to cope with the fact that thieves like bright whit lenses.
Road Rags for light control
The f-Stops Here
This has been around for a while, but still a great article. David Tejada is giving a review of the Matthews RoadRags Kit. All and all it looks like a great portable system. I bet there a DIY solution somewhere that can do just the same.
Get Your Photos Critiqued at Photoaxe.com!
photoaxe.com
If you area an aspiring photographer in the start of the road, I suggest that you get as many critiques as you can. Trek earth, Trek lens, flickr and photo.net are just some of the places to post and get critiqued. If you like to go front and center, you can drop a note with an image to Lau from photoaxe. You'll feature his weekly critique review.
Fine Art Photoblog
Fine Art Photoblog
Brian Auer, Neil Creek, Andrew Gibson, Andreas Manessinger, Cody Redmon, Joseph Szymanski and David Ziser created this great photoblog. This place for fine art photography lovers features pictures from all seven photographers. Being the fine photographers that they are, you in for a photo-treat.
Twilight Photography Tips
Digital Photography School
The Global Photographer A.K.A Matthew Monroe has assembled a great collection of twilight photography tips. The main tip is "Get a nice Cold Beer". Oh, yea he also tells you that the best time to shoot a just a bit after the sun has set.
The Light Cage
Photoworkshop.com
The Light Cage is an ingenious application. It simulates a lighting cage (Yes - this is how your models feel when you shoot them) where all the "trivial" lighting positions hold a spot pointed at a model's torso. As you shift from on spot to another, you can see the influence of this light on the model. This is a great tool if you are on the beginning of your journey as a portrait photographer and it really helps to understand lighting.
The Trashcanulator 2000
Tacky Living
The Trashcanulator 2000 is a great DIY hack to get a light tent kinda lighting. Using nothing but - um... - a trash can.
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Related Links:
- Speed Links for 12-20-2007
- Speed Links for 12-11-2007
- Speed Links for 11-20-2007
Click to continue ›
Nick Wheeler is becoming a dangerous guy to leave your boxes by. It looks like whenever a box is around, nick DIYs it into a lighting modifier. This is what I like about Nick, he is never afraid to experiment, be it a mission impossible image or a floor lit lighting setup, Nicks investments in setups pays up big time. I heartedly recommend to check Nick's flickr stream for more inspiration.
This is also my message to you. Go out and try something new. I bet that four times out of five you, like me, will end up with just another glued box. But the fifth time is the one that makes all the difference. This is the time where you put what you have learned by ruining the other four boxes into use and build a really nice piece of studio equipment and saving money for more lenses.
I said it before, and I'll say it again. The reason why bloggin' about DIY and Photography makes me a happy person it because I get to tap into a great stream of creativity fro mother great photographers out there.
Take Thomas Schwenger for example. After getting some from the Strobist and DIY community Thomas now gives back one of the lightest and easiest lighting kits for portables strobes. With a single page snoot, a mini GOBO and a filter holder, Thomas wins the DIYP kit of the year award. (Of course, like a being a warded a knighthood, there mostly honor in the title, no dough at all.
