DIYPhotography.net

It is not often that I see a picture and get my eye wet with nostalgia. However this one from David Sittig hit a soft spot for me (click here for lightbox view). Having a Kiev 88, a Seagull 4A and a Minolta SRT 101 in the same shot should be good enough on any given day, but David made the extra step of making it a TTV (Through The Viewfinder) photograph featuring the Minolta and Seagull in the Kiev's viewfinder.(Final image, just in case you care for this kind of thing, was taken with a D90)

I asked David to share the process of taking this image with DIYP readers and much to my delight he said yes:

Click to continue ›

A few weeks ago the blog has taken a small detour to the baking realm with camera shaped cookies. I thought that cookies were not big enough in some cases so here we go with a guide to bake a Nikon cake.

I must say that making this Nikon cake was not trivial, but it was not as hard as I expected and seems like everyone with a bit of baking skills can pull this off.

Please note the cake is of an un-named model (D4, maybe?). Names will be happily accepted in the comments. Click to continue ›

Eeeeveryboy loves Bullet Time. Bullet Time is that magical moment in a movie when everything freezes and the camera makes a circle or a semi circle around an object. I guess it is called bullet time cuz the camera moves at the speed of a bullet.

By now, you probably know that this effect is achieved with a battery of stills camera that will set you back a small house. To achieve Bullet Time, the photographers (or Bullet time specialist) places cameras in a circle and use both a green screen and clever triggering software.

The big number of cameras are used to maintain smooth motion as the point of view moves from one camera to another.

The Triggering mechanism is used to trigger the camera one after the other in very close succession, so it would seem like time is still flowing while the POV changes.

And the green screens is used to eliminate any interference and gain control over the set.

Or..... You could crowd source it all. Click to continue ›

I love my iPhone, but I always felt that the 3.5 inch screen was a bit to small. Luckily, Instructabes user iamaledgend came up with a clever way to project the iPhone screen onto a wall.

It takes very little to make this happen. All you need is a box of Nikes, some spare Lego parts for mounting and fixing the iPhone and a cheapo magnifiying glass as the projectors' lens. Click to continue ›

Things have been busy here at DIYP headquarters. I am very exited to be adding a new member to the DIYP family of products - A Camera Cookie Cutter set. Here we go:

Have you ever loved your camera so much that you wanted to eat it? Well, now's your chance. Through the cutting edge technology of Camera Cookie Cutters, you can not only frame your dough but eat it too!! Click to continue ›

I always wanted to shoot the Aurora (Northern Lights) . It has been a long-time subject on my to-shoot list. Sadly, as time went by, I realized that I would either have to wait till I am older and have fewer commitments and can take the travel or forgo that project all together.

I regained hope when photographer Bhaskar Dutta sent in a tutorial on how to recreate the Aurora using nothing more than paper and some LEDS. Click to continue ›

UPDATE: Tyler has posted a complete how to on instructables if you want to go and make your own camera costume.

Photographer Tyler Card was just nominated and instantly won the most unbelievable Halloween costume for this year. (We started and closed the contest with this submission by Adam Barr - Tyler's roomemate. Don't think anyone can top this. Not even a band of Paparazzi) It is a fully functional Nikon Camera (The long awaited D800 maybe?). And by saying fully functional I actually mean fully functional. It has everything you would expect from a digital SLR costume like a fake real lens and a fake real shutter button. Miraculously enough it also has a fake real LCD display on the back and a Paul C Buff remote trigger (let me guess, Tyler hates on-camera flash :)

This costume takes great photographs, my only concern for Tyler would be that he will not do anything but stand there and shot the entire party. (

You can see the camera in action after the jump. Click to continue ›

It is one thing to send a cell phone or a small HD camera into space with a weather balloon, it is a completely different thing to send a D300s equipped with a Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 lens (about $2,200 combined) into space. And yet an even more courageous one to send it in a beer cooler.

Tech students Erich Leeth and Terry Presley did send their D300s + the Tokina lens into space in a Styrofoam beer cooler from Wal Mart. While they don't have final altitude, they estimate the camera went as high as 100,000 feet. The case was equipped with a 22 foot helium weather balloon for elevation, a parachute for easy landing and n old cell phone for GPS tracking. Click to continue ›

I'll admit it, I only saw Tron: Legacy for the first time a few days ago. (For what it's worth, I think the first one was waaaaay better). The most impressive thing is that SHV 20905 digitizing laser that can scan real objects into the Tron system.

Blender user Sebastian Korczak created his own version of the laser by using a turntable, an old point and shoot and a Laser pointer equipped with a line forming tip.

The camera sits on an Arduino enhanced turntable and spins at a constant speed and video-records the distortion coming created by the linear laser. Click to continue ›

Radio controlled camera vehicles are becoming quite common. We've seen them used for time-lapse, mounted on RC helicopters and even on RC planes.

What I have yet to see is a full array of cameras controlled by a midi keyboard.

Maker Josh Cardenas teamed up with turntablists DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist to bring the hidden mastery of cutting and spinning into front row. Using no less than 9 CCD security cams, a custom track, some RC servos and an over head rig suspended with the lighting equipment, Josh was able to share those intimate quiet moments at the DJs table.

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