DIYPhotography.net

This post details Ming Thein's thoughts on aspect ratios and composition.

Round plate in a square frame. The composition is ostensibly balanced, but a little randomization is created by the uneven lighting. Leica D-Lux 5

Aspect ratio: image width/ image height, with the long dimension first.

There are six common aspect ratios for cameras today (and as many as you like if you use the crop tool, but that’s another subject for another day :) Click to continue ›

Sean Goebel shot Epochs, a spectacular time lapse piece over 11 months and 4 states. Interestingly enough, a lot of the tracking gear he used was home made and lots of the "pro" gear borrowed. Just goes to show that talent and dedication trumps budget anytime. Sean was king enough to share the complete super-detailed making of Epochs, including gear lists, locations, challanges and a lost-in-a-desert with a dying flash light story. So sit back, go to full screen crank up the volume and enjoy. Click to continue ›

With the upcoming holidays shipping cutoff dates quickly approaching, I thought I would share three awesome gift ideas for photographers. And to make things even more interesting, I included a video piece on each of those products.

A few months back I was in Oregon doing a video shoot for an upcoming DIYP product. The sound man was the uber talented Matthew Monroe (you know, the Nasty Clamps guy).

As we were wrapping up the shoot, I saw Matt flying towards my direction screaming <slow-mo>noooooooo!!!!!!</slo-mo>. It turned out that I was wrapping the audio cables the wrong way. Being a former boy scout I handled the cables in the same manner that I treated ropes: rolled them over elbow and palm. Matt accused me of being a cable trainer as my method of wrapping the cables was wrong altogether. It "Trained" the cable to be in bad form, so it would be hard to make it right long after I was gone.

Matt then explained that you have to do the half twist thing so the cable can roll out nicely. It is kinda hard to explain it in words, but there is a nice video by showing how it is done after the jump. Click to continue ›

Noctornal is a beautiful time lapse by Colin Legg. With scenes captured over two years it features marvelous locations from the Southern Night, Western Australia and Chile.

Aside from being overall breathtakingly beautiful, Noctornal has a few interesting moments that Collin is highlighting in particular.

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As a kid I was fascinated with M.C. Escher's drawings. I was intrigued by the intertwining details, if you've never heard of of M.C. Escher, or just want to reminisce, I highly recommend getting one of his books.

Russian Photographer Alexey Menschikov is doing something similar with his photographs. Alexey creates all kinds of intriguing graphic shadow art. His subjects, including groups of pigeons, cats, dogs, and even people, are all perfectly placed with shadows perfectly cast. The sharp contrast of black and white tones along with Menschikov's composition create a visual pattern of shapes in both the negative and positive spaces. Click to continue ›

David Johnson's photo series of long exposure fireworks with a focus pull technique have gone viral around the web. Many people have been asking about the exact technique and settings, so I thought I’d construct a quick tutorial of how to produce photos like these. This is a How I Took It Contest entry.

I love how Benjamin Von Wong approaches each of his projects with a loads of creativity and enthusiasm. You just know that he's always trying something new and in his latest project - The Red Mistress, he proves it yet again! Some of the more outstanding photographs from this project are a combination of capturing frozen motions with a combination of continuous light and strobes.

In the following post Ben shares the motivation and technical steps neede to create this kind of photograph. Check it out after the jump!

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Ian Ruhter is not only a talented photographer, he is also an incredible story teller. If you recall the story, Ian set out on a mission to capture the spirit of America in a way no photographer has done before - In a wet plate camera built inside of a truck.

Today, Ian shares a bit more of his personal story intertwined with four other stories (and portraits) from LA that connect to Ian's inspirational story.

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A few years ago, I had great fun creating some great big clouds to be used at the entrance to The Farm Chicks Show. But before we got them to the show, we had fun with them at home. The boys thought they made cool photo ops. Click to continue ›