DIYPhotography.net

UPDATE: IanW has a good point in the comments that flashes can go thermal on you. He is right. pop to hard and too fast and you will over hit. "Fire a flash too frequently with this setup and you will destroy it due
to overheating, unless it's got a thermal cutout (most don't)."

UPDATE 2: if you're gonna do this, make sure you're doing this on a 6V flash, i.e. 4 AA batteries. This will fry your flash if it is a 3V flash (2 AAs)

We write quite a bit about portable strobes. If you've been around for a while you may remember an older version of those strobes. The Sunpak family. While I have not used them myself (too young, sorry), those behemoth shoot at a staggering GN of 48 (meters) and have the look and feel to support it. That makes them ideal for sun swamped on location lighting. The nice thing is that they are old enough to be bought at ridiculously low prices second hand.

The following post about portable power source for small flashes (and Sunpak 611 in particular) is written by John Hagar (blog). Read more ›

Photographer Peter Karlsson has it all worked out when it comes to travel light. Peter is a Strobist at heart and as such he is using small flashes quite a bit. The coolness comes in when you see how he places his flashes in space.

Instead of your orthodox light stand solution Peter uses a home brewed light stand made of tent poles. Those are great for travel for several reasons: There are super light-weight, they fold small and they will definitely make your subject go WOW! Luckily for photographers wold wide there are two vids available that shows how those light stands were made. Read more ›

Today @AM time I discussed a light tent made from virtually nothing but coroplast and binders. (Not the previous supermarket-box-light-tent took more products to make).

Then I saw a variation on that theme by Nathan Moroney that used nothing but paper binders to create a very similar light same tent.

Now, if you think that coroplast tent was frugal, this one is on the fringe of being made from pure nothing. (Link and musing after the jump).

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Light tents (also called light boxes) are a great way to shoot a product. They eliminate harsh reflections and create appealing highlights. This specific light tent from Robert Miler has a nice twist since it can fold flat for storage.

It is all Robert from after the jump

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I guess this should go without saying, but I am going to say it anyhow: two flashes are better than one. Now you must be wondering why?

For starters, two flashes will get you a higher score on the GAS scale. (G.A.S. stands for Gear Acquisition Syndrome). This alone is a good reason to get two. But there are lighting oriented reasons as well. For some tech talk and a multi flash bracket tutorial, hit the jump. Read more ›

We all love getting our hands dirty with studio lighting equipment. Here is everything you'll need to get a studio going. All the modifiers are DIYed so mark the next few weekends as taken. Click each image to get to the relevant project page.

DIY Beauty Dish

A Beauty Dish is a flash modifier used commonly in fashion
photography. It has a great combination of soft light and fast light fall
off. When you look at it closely, however, you find out that it is
nothing more than a terracotta bowl and a plastic jar (or a small car
mirror). By Mr. Embrey.

If you read this blog long enough, you know I am a big fan of small strobes. They are portable, relatively cheap, can squeeze some intense light and great for on the go. Key words for this post are relatively cheap.

While you can buy used SBs on eBay for a bit over $100 or a LumoPro for a similar price, you are still in for more than a $100 for lights.

Just saw photog Andy Game setup which has a great answer to the money issue. Read more ›

Mechanical Mashup is a site to my taste. It is a new and fresh pod/video cast thing with great DIY tutorials. Lots of Photography, but also other fun hacks and ideas for the DIY lovers. And to top sugar with chocolate, you got to love those guys attitude.

One of their latest creations is a video describing how to build a PVC and coroplast continuous light system. (Videos, yup plurals,  after the jump). Read more ›

As many of you know, I moved to a new place a few months back. (And took down a ten ton wall when doing so). Now remember that story about Thomas Sawyer and the fence?

It starts as Tom got a punishment to whitewash his fence on Saturday. Bummer. However, Tom finds a clever way to both avoid the task and profit from it. He pretends that this whitewashing is so much fun that his friends want to take part in the mission. But our clever Tom, he charges his friends to whitewash the fence. How cool is that?

Anyhow, my story is kinda similar. I got the task from my wife, which is similar. But in my story none of friends paid me to build the fence and there's a very nice dinner involved.

While putting is fence up is definitely DIY, you must be asking yourself what it has to do with photography. Find out after the jump. Read more ›

After reviewing the Rosco Strobist gel collection, I just had to take it for an intense spin.

Since one of the main uses I see for this kit is the ability to color objects and backgrounds for creative effects, I did a little matrix of colors. (I am a computer geek, I know).

As with all the other cheat sheets on the site, I will go through the idea, the setup and end with a creative commons statement. Unlike the other cheat sheets, we are also going to have a Rosco Strobist gel collection giveaway. That stuff is near the end of the post.

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