Until today there was only one way I knew of to put starts in my eyes - to get a hefty blow to the jaw from the guy you just shot candid.
Until today, that is. Until I saw Laya Gerlock's amazing Stars Ring Light. Fortunately for us DIYers, when Laya heard what we need to get through to see stars, he agreed to share the making of this beautiful modifier.
While I've done some considerable efforts to disconnect the Gordian knot between bodily functions and lighting, my efforts are futile once and again.
Visit Tony's excellent picture tutorial for the quickest toilet gridspot ever.
Click image for larger version on flickr
Of course, you can always make your snoot in a more conventional way - with a cooling grid or coroplast (or heavens forbid, buy one).
How about creating a thingy that is a bounce card, a softbox and a super bounce card. Nice isn't it?
Martin Kimeldorf is a regular inventor here on DIYP (with inventions like Portable Backdrop Mount System, the Kimel Bouncer and the dual vertex gel system he is one of the more prolific mind I know). I was not surprised when he came up with a design to the problem presented above. It is a bit rugged and DIY looking, but it does the job. It's also a great project to get inspiration from, both on what you can do with a flash and how you can do it.
Its all Martin from after the jump.
So, you moved your light off camera (very good) and looking for some new ways to explore more lighting options. Some of the most interesting light can come from doing the unexpected with your flash.
Here are five great techniques to boost your off camera lighting.
After exploring those five you'll have a great toolbox for shooting pictures with off camera flash.
When I was a young manager, I went to my boss once, and bitched about a resource cut down and the fact the marketing was imposing a hell of a schedule on us poor R&D guys.
I really liked his response and even though it did not get me more resources it gave me good directions on how to make a plan. He looked straight into my eyes, patted me on the shoulder and fiercely said "Any manager can do more work with more resources; only good managers can do more with less". Okay, strike the shoulder and fierce thing, this is just my father complex kicking in.
However, the same idea also applies to photography, and especially starting photographers where big dollars equipment is rare.
In the story below Martin Kimeldorf (Flickr) shares a lesson on making more with less. Actually, Martin managed to double the amount of light sources he has with just a bit of imagination. Click to continue ›
The “A.I.R” = Affordable Inflatable Reflector
There are already a lot of DIY reflector designs out there, which are built of PVC tubes and are definitely great: cheap, easy to build, effective and often collapsible. But there is a drawback: the length of the tubes limits the minimal size of the disassembled reflector.
Tobi Troendle created the A.I.R reflector. Aside from having a cool name it also folds to nothing.
OK, So if you look at the title and say ??@?#?$%%$@, it's time for a little umbrella-holder intro.
Umbrella holder AKA umbrella swivel is a piece of equipment that is meant to attach a small strobe to a light stand. They come in verity of prices and flavors, but one thing is common to all. They have a hole on the bottom to connect to the light stand on one end and a metal stud / hot shoe / cold shoe that attaches to a small flash on the other end.
Wait - didn't you say they are called umbrella holders? Well, yes - this is because they also have a dedicated shaft to insert an umbrella, either reflective or shoot through.
Our friend Mason over at photogels.com is giving a 15% discount for gel packs for DIYP readers.
If you wonder what Gels are good for, and what the heck you can do with those awesome combo packs, read on. There are many great uses for them gel sheets. Here are my favorite four:
My gift to you readers for DIYP 3rd Year Aniversarry - 43 Photography Hacks, Mods And DIY Projects. (And some shameless self promotion)
3. Using A Cooling Honeycomb As A DIY Gridspot
5. The DIY Speed Strap - Accessories And Samples
6. Kimel’s Pop Up Flash Soft Box Diffuser
7. Drinking Beer - Out! Snooting - In!
10. V Cards
The following guest is written by Matt Haines (site, blog, Flickr). After surfing his awesome Flickr stream, I asked him if he'd like to share his mojo with DIYP readers. I should have known better. Now I am trying to find a new lighting trick to make my face look less red.
I’d like to thank Udi for inviting me to do a guest blog posting (my first!). Initially when he asked me to write about V-cards, I thought…huh? V-cards? Just a couple of foam panels taped together, what’s the big deal?
But Udi is wise. Oh he’s a wise one alright. The more I thought about it, the more I realized there’s plenty to say about such a simple—and cheap—light modifier. They’re so simple, the DIY construction part is hardly worth mentioning. Although I’ll mention it anyway. But it’s not how you build your V-card, it’s what you do with it. And you can do a lot!
