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
A few weeks ago I stumbled across Sandra Freeman's photography site. I was captured by her stunning life-like flower images. I then asked Sandra to share her photography ideas with DIYP readers.
Gladly for us, she agreed.
I was surprised to learn that Sandra is using nothing but one window as light source, and nothing but black fabric and some foam core board as studio. Then again, Sandra shows us all that there is no need for fancy studio equipment to take great shots - all you need is good brains. Just like the Spraying Flowers tip, it can not get any simpler.
In the following article, Martin Kimeldorf will show us how to make a backdrop stand that can be mounted on your I-carry-it-anyway lightstand.
I don’t like to carry a ton of photo stuff. The notion of trucking around 2 lights stands and a cross bar, with backgrounds, plus tripod and additional light stands for off-camera flash…well, it just ain’t me, not at my age. I went into my head-shed and tried to work with an existing light stand (costing $20 $45) and materials found at my local hardware and fabric outlet. I now have a lightweight, portable set up for less than 1/3 the cost of the commercial ones. Plus it is smaller than most being only 6 feet across. I can remain mobile.
On my Ode to my Power Supply Unit post I got quite a few comments about that nasty double reflection. I just had to fix this. The reason for this reflection is that a glass board has some thickness so I got one reflection from the top surface of the glass and one dimmer reflection from the bottom surface of the glass.
I intended to go with the strobist solution of black granite tile when I realized that I would have a hard time explaining my wife why I just had to have a piece of junk I mean a black tile I mean a photography accessory to make my studio complete.
There comes a time at any man's life, where he enters their workroom oh-my-god-kids-what-is-going-on-room and something smelled funny.
Smells metallic. Burning. My socks on fire? No.... What is it? Smelling my way towards the source, I found it to be my computer. Or more precisely, my four years old power supply's fan has decided to die on me. A dying fan means that the computer is heating up, which means that blue screens of death will pop in any second now.
I quickly went to the nearest computer store and bought myself a new unit with two fans. I figured if one will die the other one will still be there. Total cost - 65 Dollars. Definitely worth it.
Just before I throw the little guy to the little recycle bin in the sky, I wanted to say good buy in an appropriate, nice way. After all it did give me power for four years.
Loosing my power supply got me thinking that I need better backup to my pictures than the external hard drive I am currently using. After all my pictures are stored on my personal computer. If you have an idea, please post it in the comments section. I also went to reread some of the great stuff Brian has to say about backing pictures up.
So aside from the ode, there is also a setup shot and some explanations after the jump.
DIYP reader, Jerry, made a great comment on the process of making a tie-dye muslin backdrop.
It appears that Jerry remembers those happy days from when Tie-Dye was in fashion, and hair was the best show you can catch on Broadway.
Jerry tells that back is those days Tie-Dye shirts were the thing to wear and making Tie-Dye shirts was a common art. (Well, Digital cameras were very expensive then - they cost was just about a time travel ticket plus 1000$).
To spice up the color of a fabric, Jerry spiced up the Tie-Dye process. After the dying process has finished, but before removing the cord and hanging out to dry, you place the fabric in a fixer container.
This article will explain how to design and assemble bluescreens, greenscreens and backdrops for photos and video, as well as how to easily and inexpensively build a portable frame to support these backdrops out of PVC pipe or metal conduit. The ideas are similar to the ones that proposed by Brian Zimmerman, with a nice fresh view and clear explanations. (NOTE: Please be sure to read some of the extra notes at the bottom of this guide for optimal performance).
For amateur or hobbyist photographers and video producers, coming up with the money for a nice, $200 (and up!) backdrop and the expensive stands and hangers required to help support it isn't very easy. Rather, they need a way to make a nice-looking background that is both good looking and easy to transport. Click to continue ›
This project had the website diyphotography.net in mind and strives to help develop it into a vibrant online community. This backdrop is similar to those sold online for a couple hundred dollars! But guess what? for around 20 bucks and about an hours time I've made a studio backdrop myself, and now I'll show YOU how you can make a backdrop yourself! (And complete the DIY experiance by adding a DIY backdrop stand) Click to continue ›
So, you want to start your own homemade photography studio but you are totally broke and you want it to be cheap. Actually, being cheap is your prime demand from this studio. You don’t need no external fancy lighting or strobes, you don't want them expensive softboxes. You just want to try out some still life photography, or you need take some shots for eBay. This article is just for you.
Here is what I have to offer for about 1–3 USD. This still life photography studio utilizes a huge softbox and a seamless backdrop. But before we start lets see some of the prime requirements from a still life photo studio. We want to get even light, with good shadow management and a smooth background that will not distract from our main subject. Click to continue ›
A stand made of 3/4" PVC to hold a diffusion panel made of ripstop nylon that slides up and down and tilts. Sliding joint is made of a "Slip-Tee" as described in the Tinker Tubes document at "http://www.software-cinema.com/tinkertubes/tt-book.pdf". Total cost, including 500W light stand, nylon and PVC parts is about $50. I also got a similar quartz-halogen 250W clip-on light for about $15 that I hung above to add some highlights to the hair.
A 250W light was hung above and slightly to the right and behind the subject to add some highlights to the hair. Click to continue ›
