DIYPhotography.net

Multi flash mounts are cool. I have discussed them before when we did a DIY on a dual flash mount. Just a quick recap: Using multiple flashed allows you to either drive more light or to remain on the same light level, while recycling faster. You can read it all here.

Using some objects that my wife will call junk elements smartly scattered around the house, photographer Brent Pennington made a three-way flash mount. Ha! Three is better than two. It will drive a stop and a half more.

As a bonus, Brent's device relives you of the need to use a stud on your swivel. That's a major bonus if you are like me and keep losing them. Kudos.

Of course, you could always sin and get the one made by Lastolite, but then where would all the fun (and your 70 greens) would be?

Read the entire tutorial and deep thoughts on Brent's Blog. Click to continue ›

UPDATE: IanW has a good point in the comments that flashes can go thermal on you. He is right. Pop to hard and too fast and you will overheat. "Fire a flash too frequently with this setup and you will destroy it due
to overheating, unless it's got a thermal cutout (most don't)."

UPDATE 2: if you're gonna do this, make sure you're doing this on a 6V flash, i.e. 4 AA batteries. This will fry your flash if it is a 3V flash (2 AAs)

We write quite a bit about portable strobes. If you've been around for a while you may remember an older version of those strobes. The Sunpak family. While I have not used them myself (too young, sorry), those behemoth shoot at a staggering GN of 48 (meters) and have the look and feel to support it. That makes them ideal for sun swamped on location lighting. The nice thing is that they are old enough to be bought at ridiculously low prices second hand.

The following post about portable power source for small flashes (and Sunpak 611 in particular) is written by John Hagar (blog). Click to continue ›

Photographer Peter Karlsson has it all worked out when it comes to travel light. Peter is a Strobist at heart and as such he is using small flashes quite a bit. The coolness comes in when you see how he places his flashes in space.

Instead of your orthodox light stand solution Peter uses a home brewed light stand made of tent poles. Those are great for travel for several reasons: There are super light-weight, they fold small and they will definitely make your subject go WOW! Luckily for photographers wold wide there are two vids available that shows how those light stands were made. Click to continue ›

I guess this should go without saying, but I am going to say it anyhow: two flashes are better than one. Now you must be wondering why?

For starters, two flashes will get you a higher score on the GAS scale. (G.A.S. stands for Gear Acquisition Syndrome). This alone is a good reason to get two. But there are lighting oriented reasons as well. For some tech talk and a multi flash bracket tutorial, hit the jump. Click to continue ›

The fact that Pocketwizard have a new TTL enabled unit is old news. The Flex TT5 and Flex TT1 have been shipping for almost a year now.

In the beginning the Flex units were having some hard time dealing with radio interference coming from some of the Canon flashes. This interference comin from the Canon flashes had impact both on distance and reliability of the TTX units.

The good news: Pocketwizard made a 580 radio-frequency-blocking-beer-holder for the delinquent Canon flashes. They go by the code name AC5 (I can only guess that it stands for Allocation Control, or Algorithmic Collision. Go figure).

The even better news: Pocketwizard decided to provide them AC5s shields free of charge to US photographers who bought the Flex units.

The not so good news: If you are living outside of the US, this offer is not for you. Other thing is that the AC5s will be free only till the end of the month.

Good news again: photographer Daniel Aqua posted a DIY tutorial on the Flickr pool that shows how to build a Canon shield at home. Click to continue ›

I'm sure many of you are familiar with the Rosco Free sample swatch book program (I am not even gonna link to that, see why in just a bit). I bet you noticed that those fine babies are gone from the stores too.

Here's why: When Rosco made the sample program, the main target of it was to enable stage workers, artists and theater decorator to select just the right gel for their needs. They never saw it coming when a huge crowd of photo enthusiasts started to use those free sample swatch books for gelling flashes. Now why would you want to gel your flash and a solution to the problem + a review after the jump. Click to continue ›

Wouldn't be nice if you could setup a small studio on every table? Around every plate?

Martin Kimeldorf did just this, and was kind enough to share. You know Martin. He is the master mind behind gadgets like the Light Stand Portable Backdrop Mount and the Kimel Bouncer.

The next invention by martin is kinda like the diffusion panel that we featured way, way back on the early days of DIYP, only it is way more portable, and has a build in flash mount.

It's all Martin after the jump.

Click to continue ›

Gotta love strawberries. And gotta love strawberries in cream even more.

Maybe this is why my taste buds had me coming to this picture again and again.

Then again, it might be the technical details of the shot that drew my attention. Getting a nice splash is hard enough but getting strawberry on spoon splash is nearly impossible. Read on for some musings, thoughts and tips.

Click to continue ›

In this post you will find a collection of really (and I mean really) cheap alternatives to pro lighting.

Will you get the same crisp results that you get with pro gear? Probably just an approximation. On the other hand none of those mods cost more than a nickel and a dime, so it is well worth the try.

Click to continue ›

Mrs. H. should have known better than to push Steve Hermitage (Flickr) into doing the dishes.

What started out as an innocent dish washing exercise ended as a lab for shooting tiny worlds of soap, and revenge taken against a Tia Maria glass.

This is just too good of a project not to share. It is a ton of fun and the setup is very simple as Steve explains in his setup shot (after the jump).

Click to continue ›