If I recall correctly, it was Archimedes who said "Give me enough gaff tape and I will move the world".
So we are not going to move the world today, but we are going to control light with nothing more than gaffer's tape. Hit the jump for more info. Click to continue ›
About two weeks ago I was invited to shoot a local ladies basket ball group for their yearly calendar. They are called Elizur Yavne and they play the third regional league (fifth place). It is a very mixed group of ladies with the youngest being about 18 years old and the most experienced one almost 40 years old. Nevertheless they are a unified team and it was a big pleasure to see them practice after the shoot. (Heck, anyone of them can probably kick my ass on the court). Click to continue ›
Portable light box comes in handy for most product photography work. We did feature a cardboard light tent way back, but it was not collapsible. How can we say no to collapsible. With collapsibility in mind Kumaran Alagesan went and made a tent for $5. Click to continue ›
If you ever had to shoot in a confined space you know that getting your light in the place can be challenging .Limited space, cabinets and shelves all join hands in eliminating good lighting placements.
Photographer Allen Mowery put together a DIY Super Clamp that allows mounting your strobe on almost every semi-open door or shelf.
We have featured two similar products before, a DIY Clamp and the Nasty Clamps, each with its own merits. This design uses a controllable pressure clamp which I can see useful when the need to mount larger weights rises.
Here is a video describing the use of the clamp, followed by a link to the DIY guide on Allen's blog. Click to continue ›
A while back we posted a guide that shows how to build a TTL cord extender using Cat 5e Ethernet cables and plugs.
YouTube member Matthewrichey made a short video describing the process which is worth checking out.
If you are more proficient with a credit card than a cable RJ45 plug crimper you can get a pretty long (10m) TTL cord for about $36 at your friendly online book store.
If any of you folks out there had a try, I would love to hear how long you got your cable before commands to the strobe stopped working.
Lastly, if you wondered why you would need a long TTL cord, check out Syl Areana's super smart way of using a Canon TTL master strobe inside a softbox to control other Canon strobes OR David Hobby's Strobe on a Rope self-assist way of off camera flashing.
[How to make a adjustable flash sync cord with cat5 cable via cheesycam] Click to continue ›
One of the downsides of using a small strobe is that you don't get the nice modeling light like the big studio guns.
That means that you have to pre-visualize your light. If you are new to strobes this may not be trivial even on a bare strobe, but throw some modifiers in (e.g. a softbox or an umbrella) and it get even harder. This is why a modeling light is can be your best friend as you make your first steps into the modifiers world. In this tutorial I will explain how you can add a modeling light to a strobe using a DIY Double Flash Bracket, but any double flash bracket will do. Click to continue ›
Photographer and design student Hunter Frerich came up with this really cool DIY for building a small circular soft box. It kinda resembles one of the first projects on DIYP (which is the one that actually pushed me to start the site) but is waaaaay nicer and probably gives way better light. It kinda resembles the Honl Traveller8, but exchanges the high $$ for sewing skills.
I guess that snoots are one of those things that you can make out of almost any substance. As a kid, I used to listed to Dennis Leary and he had a similar notion on bongs (you can listed to this very NSFW, rude and strong languaged track here).
Of course being the shy and straighter than ruler guy that I am I would not even know a bong if I saw one, but I would recognize a good snoot idea.
If you're asking, "a snoot, what is it good for"? check out Strobist's Ultra-Hard Light post. Click to continue ›
Usually where danger is involved we simply say something like "please know what you're doing" or "If you need to ask how this is done, this is not for you", but for this particular piece, I thought a bigger warning should be in place. And I darn well mean it.
WARNING: This article involves dealing with High Voltage, up to 300v, which is stored in big capacitors. THIS VOLTAGE CAN KILL YOU. Never touch any of the components and always discharge the capacitor before working on it. Always keep in a well insulated project enclosure.
BY FOLLOWING THESE INSTRUCTIONS YOU AGREE TO BE THE ONLY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE THAT MIGHT BE CAUSED BY DOING SO. WORK CAREFULLY AND FOLLOW WARNINGS.
If you think this warning was not bold, big or strong enough, please read it again. (I do realize this may end up in a loop for folks who think this is as easy as a learn how to solder project. That's the point)
This article will help you understand the basics of how a flash circuit is working, and the second part will show you how to build your own optical triggered portable flash rated at 50 watt/seconds! Click to continue ›
A few days back we posted a video by The Underwater Realm that shows how to build and use an air cannon to create a false explosion.
It turns out that that though the folks at Realms are super busy making an Indie film, they manage to find the time to tip the indie film community (and photographers in general) with some awesome tips (see their undestructible LED strip for example).
This time around Eve Hazelton shares a great tutorial on how to use household lights to create some awesome lighting either for the big screen or for stills.
