DIYPhotography.net

Part of the fun of being a DIY Photography blogger is being tapped to the great stream of ideas and creativity that flows from the photographer's community. Every now and then I get a mail that makes my day, pointing me to an awesome/ fun/ unbelievable/ getoutofhere project. I also keep regular watch on the DIYP flickr pool to be amazed over and over with DIY projects and creative photographs of readers.

This series of articles which I call "DIYP Readers Projects" is my way to give some loving back to the community and to DIYP readers and expose some of the coolest photography projects around - your projects. The first runner up is the...

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WizWow and Just Fab have done it again. In this nice fun little video Don Giannatti shares three lighting techniques.

In this short video, Don Giannatti really packs in some stuff. The first setup is shows how to do a single strobe glamour portrait.

The second setup is an upgrade to the Three Dollar Beauty Dish by Just Fab (you may remember her from the Ghetto Studio post). Just Fab has gone from one time aluminum pans to more sturdy IKEA pans. Don also uses foam core and window sun shield (My guess is five more dollars to the setup).

The last setup is has another mode from a lightshere, an old reflector and some tissue.

It is mighty kind of Don Giannatti to share his unique lighting in this video. You can see the picture and some more explanations on lighting essentials.

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One of the things I like most on DIYP is the strong warm community that has build around it. It is more and more often that readers are sending ideas, hacks and modifications that far surpass any ideas that might be having on the late hours of the night.

Reader Joseph A. Sorrentino (flickr) gets the genius-of-the-week award for moding a cable-wrap into a pocket wizard mount device.

Joe has tested several options before going with the cheapest and easiest solution I have seen so far. Here are his thoughts and reasons for designing a whole new Pocket wizard mount from scratch. In my mind all the other alternatives are very good and offer some advantages, but Joe's mount is the best of class. (Check them all for great mounting ideas.)

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After taking some shots with the Floor Lit Table Top Studio by Nick, It's time to take it up a notch.

The previous article showed how to take great liquid product shots, though the set up can work for both liquids and solids.

In this part of the tutorial Nick will show a modification of the setup that allows you to add some color effects to the shot. If you like it, stop by Nick's flickr stream and say "Hi". In addition to showing your appreciation, you'll get some great studio images and setup shots. Now for todays exiting twist:

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I always keep my eye on the strobist flickr pool. It is one of the best places to get your lighting ideas. The other day, I saw a cool Corona shot there made by Nick Wheeler. Nick was so kind to share his lighting technique with DIYP readers. So, the following article is a guest post by Nick Wheeler, If you like this tutorial as much as I did stop by Nick's flickr stream and say "Hi" (You'll also get a nice dose of fine images).

Just recently, I became the proud owner of a new dining room table. Not a massively exciting announcement you might think (and you would be right), but what was getting me excited was the fact that it had a frosted glass top. While my significant other was wondering where to put it and what to do with the old table, I was thinking “I wonder what would happen if I stuck a flash underneath it?”

The answer at first was a little disappointing but after a while I was getting some pretty good results, particularly with bottles and containers of liquid. I was finding that with light coming from underneath it was helping light up the liquid and giving it a nice glow. The only problem I was having was the table top itself. The glass was dimpled, not smooth, and while that gave a nice effect, it was not ideal for every shot. The answer of course was a spot of DIY!

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I should have seen this one coming. What can you do if you have a ton of SBs and a bit of duct tape? A multi-super-sb-ring-light.

The idea is very simple - take 6 super-duper Nikon SBs and mount them on a cut coffee can. You can use duct tape to hold them on.

Connect 3 pocket wizards with splitters to the flashes and fire away.

No doubt that Joshua Targownik (check out his cool site) has a great idea, here are some of my thoughts on this great ring flash.

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Yet another small internal flash bouncer. I really like this one since it is the fastest one to make yet. I'll estimate about 15 seconds.

If you are a big executive and have your own business card, you can cut the time it takes you to get a business card and you are at 5 seconds. The results are not professional and there is some light lost, but when all else fails, it is a neat trick to have up your sleeve. It will defiantly work for Canon internal flashes. Other brands - you might need to adjust a bit.

I got this trick in the mail from Marko Helenius. He holds a nice gallery at markohelenius.fi. Pleae go over there and have a looksy. Judging by the (small number of) studio shots, this guy knows what he is doing. Now I give the floor to Marko.

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Last night I got fired by my daughter. I kid you not. She firmly stood on her two tiny legs wearing an executive outfit and gave me the hard news. My Daughter is almost 3.

Not long ago David X. Tejada (blog, site) posted a video showing his setup for a firm executive shot. You can watch the video at the end of this post. One thing that I believe pushes me forward as a photographer is learning the techniques of great photographers like David X. Tejada, and then apply them on creative ideas that I have. Note that for this learning technique to work, you can not copycat an image (there is another technique of trying to reproduce an image to learn the lighting, but that is another story).

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This guest post by Rick S. (aka therickman), Pittsburgh, PA. features a stofen like device for no money at all. (OK, 2 cents, if you get really pecky). It's foldable and it's cheap and it'll give you a bare bulb type of lighting. To learn more about bare-bulb lighting visit the strobist.

Here is a quick and easy way to make a "professional" flash diffuser without shelling out twenty or so dollars at your local camera shop. In fact, the cost of this homemade pearl is... well, nothing! Just your time making it, which should take less than ten minutes. Ready to start taking better images with softer lighting? Let's go! Click to continue ›

Beauty Dish for the Mechanically challenged a guest post by Just Fab

I had the honor of being photographed by one of my mentors, Don Giannatti (Wizwow on flickr) the other day after attending one of his fantastic lighting seminars. He chose to use a beauty dish on me. I love the way beauty dishes look, especially the way it sculpts the edges of my roundish face. Soft concentrated light which falls off quickly. You can learn more about the merits of the beauty dish on Don’s site.

Most of my inspiration for lighting setups come from that site and DVD. Anyway, I was so excited when I saw the images I knew I had to come up with something that could recreate the look that was portable and wouldn’t break the bank. Although I am handy with PVC pipes, my ability to use power tools are in question. I was thinking of cutting out a hole in a wok or mixing bowl, but I still couldn’t figure out how to rig it to reflect the concentrated beam back into the dish, plus my lighting stand would probably never stay upright with that kind of weight.

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