DIYPhotography.net

We all love getting our hands dirty with studio lighting equipment. Here is everything you'll need to get a studio going. All the modifiers are DIYed so mark the next few weekends as taken. Click each image to get to the relevant project page.

DIY Beauty Dish

A Beauty Dish is a flash modifier used commonly in fashion
photography. It has a great combination of soft light and fast light fall
off. When you look at it closely, however, you find out that it is
nothing more than a terracotta bowl and a plastic jar (or a small car
mirror). By Mr. Embrey.

I know you love lighting diagrams. We all do. So if you are a Lighting Diagrams freak (or a Stobist) at heart this will make you happy.

The good guys over at strobox created a lighting diagram that fits on the iPhone. Now, it is true that you can surf to the Lighting Diagram Creator site via the iPhone, but it feel better using this dedicated app.

Even better news after the jump. Click to continue ›

As part of the ongoing Studio @ Home series, I asked DIYP readers, what is your favorite photographic light. 

By that question I meant what is the light source you love most when you are taking pictures. Strobists you can cheer, but it was a close match. Again, thanks for all who voted and commented, it helps us learn about the trends, and makes a great community feeling.

Results and some thought after the jump.

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After doing nothing but moving pausing for a short while to let everyone suck in the goods on Studio @ Home, we're going to continue to explore lighting options. We already discussed LED lights, and we'll be exploring worklights, strobes and big guns next. Till then, I'd love to hear what you use for lighting your pictures. 

If your answer is not on the list, let us know via the comments.

The other thing is that we are going to have a new assignment on S@H. get your cameras ready. And now on with the entrée. 

RSS readers, you may have to click the link to vote and view results. 

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Don't we all love to make Lighting diagrams? They help us explain our lighting setups. They can also help us design a setup in advance.

UPDATE 3: The The Lighting Diagram Creator now supports export to jpeg. Man, Huy has really done great work with this one, It even allows adding sound gear.

UPDATE2: Lets try and make the online diagram creator complete. read on for making a stamp on the history of online lighting diagrams tools.

UPDATE1: Due to licensing issues the tool has been revised to use Don Gianatti PSD file - It is still a great way to create lighting diagrams online.

In the past I have written about a great PSD file created by Kevin Kertz. This PSD file allows you to describe (almost) any lighting setup you create. I have used this excellent method myself in Shooting The Team series.

There are other lighting diagrams creating tools out there, but none was as complete as Kevin's. The only drawback to the PSD file is that you had to install Photoshop or The GIMP to use the file (yap, PSD is Adobe's Photoshop native format).

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Reader Jerry Hamby just sent in this great hair light project. It is made from a cheapo 45 ws ebay flash and - believe it or not - a green-bean super value can (the kind you don't want to eat too much of at one time). Just before sharing his tutorial with you, allow me to extend two small tips:

1. Empty the bean can before using it.

2. Do not empty it alone. 

Now, to the tutorial. Click to continue ›

A while back I posted two great ways to create lighting diagrams: using Photoshop or using an online flash application.

Now, the online application as great, but it only allowed you to share a URL, there was no way to save or print your lighting diagram.

Reader Brian pointed me to a nice online application called PhotoDiagram that allows you to create a lighting diagram and then save it as jpg. NICE.

I'd love to see more modifiers in the application. If you feel like being nice, Drop Brian a line on what you'd like to see in the next version of PhotoDiagram.

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After taking some shots with the Floor Lit Table Top Studio by Nick, It's time to take it up a notch.

The previous article showed how to take great liquid product shots, though the set up can work for both liquids and solids.

In this part of the tutorial Nick will show a modification of the setup that allows you to add some color effects to the shot. If you like it, stop by Nick's flickr stream and say "Hi". In addition to showing your appreciation, you'll get some great studio images and setup shots. Now for todays exiting twist:

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I always keep my eye on the strobist flickr pool. It is one of the best places to get your lighting ideas. The other day, I saw a cool Corona shot there made by Nick Wheeler. Nick was so kind to share his lighting technique with DIYP readers. So, the following article is a guest post by Nick Wheeler, If you like this tutorial as much as I did stop by Nick's flickr stream and say "Hi" (You'll also get a nice dose of fine images).

Just recently, I became the proud owner of a new dining room table. Not a massively exciting announcement you might think (and you would be right), but what was getting me excited was the fact that it had a frosted glass top. While my significant other was wondering where to put it and what to do with the old table, I was thinking “I wonder what would happen if I stuck a flash underneath it?”

The answer at first was a little disappointing but after a while I was getting some pretty good results, particularly with bottles and containers of liquid. I was finding that with light coming from underneath it was helping light up the liquid and giving it a nice glow. The only problem I was having was the table top itself. The glass was dimpled, not smooth, and while that gave a nice effect, it was not ideal for every shot. The answer of course was a spot of DIY!

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Last night I got fired by my daughter. I kid you not. She firmly stood on her two tiny legs wearing an executive outfit and gave me the hard news. My Daughter is almost 3.

Not long ago David X. Tejada (blog, site) posted a video showing his setup for a firm executive shot. You can watch the video at the end of this post. One thing that I believe pushes me forward as a photographer is learning the techniques of great photographers like David X. Tejada, and then apply them on creative ideas that I have. Note that for this learning technique to work, you can not copycat an image (there is another technique of trying to reproduce an image to learn the lighting, but that is another story).

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