DIYPhotography.net

So you hacked yourself a gadget infinity flash radio slave and you are happy. You are shooting off camera flash and things work splendid. Actually, you really wanted a pair of pocketwizards, but it was 26 big ones Vs. 360, so it's GI. Actually they work quite well. They worked quite well for a long while now. Then a crisis. Flash wont fire. 

Camera clicks, but flash won't fire. Darn! It was working just a second ago. What could have gone wrong? (Or in the words that the guys from the internet service hear 1000 times a day - I did not touch it.)

Here are three things to check before giving up on your cactus remotes. Click to continue ›

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.

Click to continue ›

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).

Click to continue ›

Yesterday I posted a cheat sheet that tried to question the applicability of the Inverse Square Law (ISL) on the way we use portable flashes I called this post The Inverse Square Law Cheat Sheet - Myth Busted.

The post stirred up a great conversation from which I learned about Light, some physics and some in camera processing facts. But mostly I learned that it is great fun to experiment and to share your findings. It definitely helped me get my knowledge to a higher level (at the small price of throwing a way my totally wrong fringy and conventions breaking experiment.

Click to continue ›

UPDATE: This Experiment is all Wrong. I should hit my head on the same wall I used to measure reflected light off. Some great comments about what went wrong, and great discussion going on - I posted the main points here.

Have you heard about the Inverse Square Law? It's the law that says that light intensity falls the farther you move your light from your subject. It also tells you that if you move your light to be twice as far it will fall by 4 (the square of 2). if you move the light three times as far, it will fall by 9.

We all swear by that law. The only thing is this law does not apply to the way most of us use flashes.

I'm gonna explain this in a beat, but first here is my newest cheat sheet. (I love cheat sheets. If you are as senile as me, you can print them and then pop them up later and look really smart).

Click to continue ›

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.

Click to continue ›

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.

Click to continue ›

It is always nice to see a good DIY project turn into a product. It is even better to see a nasty DIY project turn into a product.

This is just what happened with Matthew G. Monroe's Clamp-It-Anywhere Project A.K.A Nasty Clamps.

In fact he has so many requests to just-make0one-for-me from other photographers that he upgraded the CIY to a full professional grade product. In fact, big part of the production chain is located in Oregon, just near Matt's house, and the rest of it is done right at Matt's Garage. Talk about home grown business.

This is why I was so happy to give them Nasty Clamps a go. And they are nasty indeed (in a good way). Read on for the full review.

Click to continue ›

How do you take a lovely portrait like this, on a perfect white background? Of course you'll need a beautiful model. But how would you handle the lighting? Just throw about 10000 Watts/Seconds on your seamless white and you're good. 

Or use a single strobe and 5$ worth of white Coroplast. Read on for the full details. 

Click to continue ›

Ever had your light stand taken down along with your precious 5000$ Profoto? Not a fun experience.

Next runner up on the not-so-fun light stands falls is a knocked-down speedlite. While the cost of speedlites is considerably less than the cost of a Profoto, if this is all you have it can still be pretty annoying. Especially if you're on the beach where it's sandy. 

Keep reading for a cheap and ingenious solution. 

Click to continue ›