When it comes to how to pictorials I guess no one does it better than Maciej Pietuszynski. (If you don't think so, just check his Tilt-Shift Lens From A Shower Head, How To Instasuqare Your Camera's View Finder and How To Give An Old Nifty-Fifty A New Life pictorials) This time Maciej shares how Spring cleaning drove him into making an ice cream softbox that doubles as a camera case.
While we have featured quite a few home made gridspot before I don't believe I have ever seen a gridspot based on a Quaker Can. This is a fairly easy build, You will need an empty can (preferably Quaker oats) with a plastic cap and some black straws. Click to continue ›
Last night I decided I need a small softbox for my flash. Something light, that can be taken apart and constructed from things I could find in my house at 11pm.
A while back we made a little rant towards Westcott's Apollo. We were upset that using the Apollo (one of my favorite lighting modifiers) as not light stand friendly and required a Boom, a C stand or a VAL to be easily positioned.
The main issue is that with an umbrella softbox the lightstand is entering the middle of the modifiers, basically locking its angle against the stand to be exactly 90 degrees.
This is true not just for the Apollo, but also for other umbrella like modifiers like the Softlighter II from Photek (reviewed here).
Well, Phottix has been listening and have released a new flash bracket which seems to be the off camera dream bracket the Multi Boom 16" Flash Bracket. Click to continue ›
Octagonal softboxes (aka octa boxes) are great for when you want nice diffused light. They have a very distinct catch light which some photographers love (and some don't). In this tutorial, David Schöppe shows how to build a wooden octa.
Is it the cheapest way to get a big octa? At ~$30 it probably is. Assuming that you have way more time than money.
We have had our share of DIY strip lights over the years, but I feel that we never got the right mixture of stability, great light and parts availability.
One was too cardbordy, another with rare rail and a third was a bit of a dare. I think I now finally found the build I like most.
David from Go Light Your World came up with a simple build based on White Vinyl Gutter Downspout and some 3M reflective tape.
The entire construction is held in place with a piece of ruler attaching to an off the shelf swivel. If you want to see how to build one yourself, head over to David's Light Saber post. Click to continue ›
A few days ago we shared a post about how to surgically open a strobe and bare-bulb its guts (and also explained why it should or should not be done).
Reader Janne Kaakinen shared an interesting device that will get as good results as any bare bulb, while minimizing the sacrificial light that the device actually absorbs as part of the diffusion action.
Best of all, it does not require you to open a strobe and perform a capacitor shocking operation.
It was made with 4 small plastic parts (scavenged from a broken umbrella, but I guess wooden skewers would work just as nicely - just watch for the sharp tips), and some mirror contact paper.
He named it The Reflect'O'Cone, and compared it to an Omnibounce. Click to continue ›
If you are doing portraiture with speedlight, you know that to get soft flattering light, you need to increase the size of the light source. We have featured a few hot shoe softboxes before. In fact the first ever post on DIYP was a small hot shoe strobe's softbox tutorial. And we also had a poorman's octabank. But this is the first time we are sharing a cone shaped one by Peter Beckerman. (Sewing skills for the win!)
Brian from Undefined Images made an interesting submission to our How I Took It contest. While we've had ringlights show stars catchlights before, we never did an alien look that incidentally also doubles as a huge ringlight. About the nuts and bolts for this one, you can see Tristan's post.
Ok, so how to add a little something to a pic by fiddling with the white balance a bit? First, I took a standard pic of my daughters sneakers. What do you mean that's not something you usually do? Just go with the flow and stop arguing with me ok!
Standard pic of daughters sneakers:
