DIYPhotography.net

If you have lots of lenses, getting them all stored and neatly organized can be a drag. Personally, I use a cupboard but swear every time I need to get to one of them lenses that are on the back line.

Flickr user Stargazer95050 found a super clever way to organize his lenses. It seems like he is obsessed with organized lenses, this is his second clever Lens storage solution, The first one was using a cutlery tray. So aside from IKEA stopping to make the cutlery tray, he also needed a way to quickly move the lenses to his van while retaining easy lens access.

Click to continue ›

If you own one of them 90's film cameras and stopped using it because digital is so hip right now, you're gonna dust it off once you're done reading this tutorial.

In this tutorial photographer Richard Hill is going to explain how to convert your old film camera combined with a strobe into a background generator (which pros also like to call Cookie Projector or a gobo projector).

We featured a strobe based background generator before, which was based on a box and Fresnel lenses. This time around the shades can be way more delicate. Here comes Richard: Click to continue ›

I am not really sure how this 2008 awesome video duo went under the radar here at DIYP, but thanks to our alert readers (thanks Gail) it is now up for your viewing pleasure.

This is by far one of the best DIY Ring Flash designs I've seen and the only thing that tops that design is well document how to video that makes building it looks like a walk in the park.

The design by Craig White is a bit different from the usual paper pizza box ring flash we've seen here on DIYP. It is quite sturdy - made from metal bowls. I would not be surprised if it takes some inspiration from the Terra Cotta Beauty Dish.

Anyhow, here are the two videos, followed by a sum-it-up image. Click to continue ›

Flickr user Stargazer95050 found a neat way to organize his photo gear in a drawer.

Using the grooves bumps and slits of a cutlery tray the lenses, bodies, strobes and other accessories lay safely in place.

Here is how Andy describes it: Click to continue ›

We've had our share of building cyc wall guides. (A cyc wall or a Cyclorama is a curved background that gives you that infinite white look. If you wanna freshen up on what it is used for, visit here).

I am not sure if you'll remember any of them other tuts, but I am sure you will remember this one, if only for presentation qualities.

The guys (I am taking a wild assumption when saying guys) at EyeHandy put up a complete cyc wall how-to presented by a model. It includes the entire process from measuring, through carpentry and painting.

I am placing the video after the jump as this may be NSFW for some. Click to continue ›

About three weeks ago, I asked DIYP readers to build a softbox. It was meant for fun and education. To add some zap the good guys at B&H chipped in with a Westcott Apollo Speedlight set and a strobe (Nikon SB700/Canon 430EX II) for the best design.

I literally fell of my chair seeing all the great submissions. The amount of creativity with the build was huge with sizes and materials covering just about any possible element on the face of the planet (including the rare element IKEAtnium). If you ask me quite a few of the bunch would have had a successful design career.

The contest ended up with 70 submission ranging on all the spectrum
of softboxes:

• The first obvious choice is size, and there are submissions with as small as half a letter paper to monster47" softboxes.
• Another critical factor was the materials, while some
  opted for "clothy and airy" using fabrics, tent rods, and umbrella
  skeletons, others opted for strong and sturdy and used corrugated plastic and
  plywood.
• Mounting ranges from custom metal brackets through friction fit and we even had one yogurt cup mount.

It is very impressive to see how some set out design goals (or briefs in design lingo) and held up pretty well to their intents.

Here we go with 24 DIY Softboxes which display the variety of softboxes you can built at home. There are some great ideas inside for on budget lighting so visit them all. Click each entry banner to see the full tutorial. There were more good design but I tried not to repeat similar designs in the post so each tutorial will have some added value. Click to continue ›

One of the good things about on-camera flash is that it travels with you. Sure, this on axis light gives a really terrible flat light and red eyes, but it is always with you. you'd most likely get better, more directional light from an off camera flash, but setting this up takes time and space, which You don't always have.

This is why they invented the flash brackets, and why Jerry Hamby made a PVC version of it. A flash bracket is a contraption that attaches to the camera and creates some distance between the flash and the lens. (Bye, bye red eyes).

When your flash is on a bracket you would need to trigger it and you can do so with a sync cable, a TTL cable or (if your flash supports it) trigger it wirelessly. And before the comments start poring about this, we know that the lens cap is on, this is just for illustration) Click to continue ›

If you love IKEA for their cheap furniture, you'd probably love them even more after discovering the huge possibilities they provide for creating lighting modifiers. (Beauty Dish, Ring Light and even a DSLR shoulder rig are some of the projects we covered so far).

In this project Andy Kubbat takes us through the process of building an overhead bare bulb light fixture using a strobe and an IKEA Regolit Floor Lamp priced at $49.99. Click to continue ›

I know you love continuous light ring lights, both for stills and video, however, one of the most common responses is that it is too complex to build and the need for woodmanship.

Well, aside from providing paper furniture and raw beauty dishes, IKEA seems to have solved the ring light issues as well. With the (sadly discontinued) Kvartil Chandelier. Sadly IKEA, not realizing the product potential for photographers, has discontinued the product. The concept however is too good not to be featured in the hopes that IKEA or some other chandelier manufacturer will make it right.

If you got more photography IKEA hacks I would love to hear them, share in the comments. Click to continue ›

We featured a few beauty dishes before, one made from a turkey pan, and one made from soup bowls. (Even when it seems like DIY, it is actually about food).

With a recent mention about the connection between DIYP and IKEA, I thought that it would be fun to feature a beauty dish made with the very appropriate named IKEA FOTO.

It is a simple build, the smarts here are in the bracket that takes the load of the strobe head and allows for easy mounting on a lightstand or a boom. Click to continue ›