DIYPhotography.net

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.

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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 ›

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.

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One of the things I remember most from my visit to new york city is the tour I took around Chinatown. Specifically I remember sitting in one of the local places ordering food which I did not know the name of nor its ingredients.

It was some kind of soup and it was delicious. Till this very day I am not sure what was that floating eyeball but I enjoyed it very much.

A short walk after my wife and i (really it was just my wife) bought a whole set of china dishes. This was the part where I dosed off. If I had seen the DIY video below I may have been more interested, as it shows how to build a beauty dish with stuff you find in Chinatown and an Lastolite Ezybox bracket (for mounting).

I wonder if someone would pick up the glove and add this BD to the DIY beauty dish stand off.

The Chinatown Special: The Best DIY Beauty Dish via slrlounge Click to continue ›

Photographer Allen Mowery made a (yet another) simple Lightsphere from some stuff he found around the house (Velcro and bubble wrap vinyl drawer liner). As the comparison above shows, the results are as good as the original thing. The oh-so-simple how to video after the jump. Click to continue ›

We've had our share of Lightsphere and Omnibounce DIYs, ranging from wax paper and  yogurt cups through bubble wrap and barf bags.

I think this one by Flickr user Manu_MK is one of the simpler ideas. A plastic cap with two gaffer flaps gaffed to the strobe.

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If you love that light quality that ring flash gives, you may own an Orbis or a DIY ring flash kit.

If you wanted to get the same effect for video you'd usually have to build one out of CFL bulbs or LEDs. It makes sense since the socket on most strobe oriented ring flashes fits a strobe (DUH!).

But....

But if you just need it for  as light fill and not as a main video light, there is a way you can use those modifiers for video. Click to continue ›

The Westcott Apollo is one of my favorite light modifiers. You've seen it featured a ton of times on DIYP. It's one of the more bought items on the Gear Guide, and we like it so much that we even gave one away a while back.

If you wanna see it in action, check out how Benjamin Von Wong pushed it to the edge with fireworks (or a more traditional shoot by Zack Arias).

Anyhow, the unique softbox-like light with the umbrella ease and strobe-friendliness makes it a great tool to have in your on location lighting box (or bass case).

There is only one small thing which is not perfect about the Apollos, they don't tilt. Really. If you are shooting with an Apollo on a light stand, you are pretty much limited to having the box point forward or sideways. It is not trivial to have it look 45 degrees down.

Basically, the Apollo gives you two options: Great light, with the strobe very close to the back screen, and almost no tilt. OR, you move the strobe closer to the shaft base (the zipper on the bottom of the Apollo allows this) to tilt, but then you risk hot spots. Click to continue ›

Indie films are a never-dry tap of production creativity. And gear not an exception in that regards. In most cases Indie films don't have the huge budget of Hollywood productions so you think twice before making a call and ordering 1/2 a ton of light.

The Underwater Realm is no different in that regard. In fact it is ground breaking. The movie is set entirely under water which required water proofing and submersing any light, power or camera used.

They are also ground breaking in the fact that they are sharing their production in a weekly video blog. If you are a bit of a maker or a starting away videographer, you'll get completely sucked in.

This week's edition is all about creating a submersible Kino Flo. Kino Flo is a light a bit like florescent, only stronger, light balanced and completely flickerless. On the other hand, it is fragile, expensive, and most importantly, it does not like water. Click to continue ›