fbpx

DIY Photography

Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time

Search

Submit A Story

About Alex Baker

Alex is a commercial photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She mostly shoots people and loves anything to do with the outdoors. You can see her work on her website and follow her Spanish landscape adventures on instagram.

Spanish ministry in hot water over stolen images used for beach body ad campaign

by Leave a Comment

Three British women have made complaints so far when they spotted images of themselves used without their permission in a Spanish government campaign. The advertisement was commissioned by the Spanish Women’s Institute as part of their Equality Ministry.

The poster translates roughly as “Summer is our’s too”, and shows five women of different body shapes and sizes enjoying a day at the beach. The image was put together by artist Arte Machape, however, it appears that neither Machape nor the Spanish Government bothered to request permission to use the images of the women. And in an even stranger twist, the Spanish ministry has said that it didn’t know that they were “real people”.

[Read More…]

Canon’s next mirrorless camera could be yet another cropped sensor aimed at vloggers

by Leave a Comment

Canon is fast investing in its lineup of RF mount mirrorless cameras. This year saw the announcement of two new APS-C mirrorless cameras from Canon: the R7 and R10. Now new rumours have been flying around that Canon’s next camera will also be a cropped frame sensor mirrorless camera intended to address the vlogging market.

The mirrorless line had previously been targeting the higher end of the market, with the R5 and R3 properly aimed at the needs of professional photographers. But usually reliable rumour site Canon Rumours has said that they have information that the next camera will be “a small form factor “vlogger”, which…will be close to the Canon EOS M6 Mark II in design.”

[Read More…]

Dad creates smart webcam to tell him when newborn is hungry

by Leave a Comment

It often makes me laugh when I see a news article about sleep deprivation tests. Typically the subjects cannot make it past about a week on less than 4 hours sleep a night. I laugh in their faces. “Try going 15 months of 4 hours sleep a night,” I say to myself, “a week? you’re weak!”.

And so would be echoed the world over by parents of new babies. One new dad, however, has taken his lack of sleep seriously and has hacked a webcam to analyze his sleeping baby and tell him when the baby is hungry. Where was this man 5 years ago when I needed him?

[Read More…]

Ukraine’s First Lady sparks Sit like a girl photo trend after Vogue cover shoot

by 1 Comment

Ukraine’s First Lady, Olena Zelenska has sparked an online trend of women sitting in a traditionally masculine pose. The trend is hashtagged “Sit like a girl” after  Zelenska was featured sitting in this position on the cover of Vogue.

The image was shot by Annie Leibovitz and shows her seated on some steps, front facing the camera, legs apart, elbows resting on knees. The stance apparently provoked a wave of criticism that it wasn’t ladylike enough for a leader’s wife. However, Zelenska is no ordinary woman.

[Read More…]

The Zhiyun Smooth Q4: a solid smartphone stabiliser built for travel vloggers

by Leave a Comment

Whether we like it or not, video has become a part of our everyday lives. We now take it for granted that the ability to shoot good enough quality video resides in our pockets. But shooting stable video is still very difficult to do handheld. That’s where a good stabiliser or gimbal becomes an essential piece of equipment.

I was very excited to try out the Zhiyun Smooth-Q4 smartphone stabiliser and see just how good it was. I ended up taking it on a few short trips to see how it would hold up quite literally ‘in the field’. I tried it using my rather geriatric but still going strong Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 Android phone.

[Read More…]

Moment release new travel camera backpack collaboration with Emmett Sparling

by Leave a Comment

Photography accessories company Moment is confirming their presence in the camera bag market by launching another travel camera backpack. This time around they have paired up with travel photographer Emmett Sparling to create the 35L Day Chaser Backpack.

Sparling says that he spent 5 years travelling with every type of camera bag possible, and was increasingly frustrated by the options available. They were either traditional bags that locked you into a pre-set configuration, and often didn’t protect your gear very well. So he teamed up with Moment to create one that fitted his vision.

[Read More…]

Scientists develop stamp sized ultrasound patches that create images of your internal organs

by Leave a Comment

From unborn babies in the womb to kidney stones, ultra sound technology is a marvelous thing. It allows us to see inside our bodies in a non-invasive way. It’s been used as a diagnostic tool in medicine for sometime now, at least 50 years and generally it requires a specialist radiologist or sonographer and bulky machines.

Scientists at MIT want to change all that and have invested an ultrasound ‘patch’, a little like a Nicorette patch, which can be sold in pharmacies or used in small doctor’s practices. And it’s the size of a postage stamp.

[Read More…]

I got to field test the new Canon EOS R7 for night photography

by 1 Comment

I was lucky enough to get my hands on the brand new Canon EOS R7 camera yesterday, thanks to Canon España ambassadors Paco Farero and Iván Sanchez. It’s Canon’s first offering of a cropped sensor APS-C mirrorless camera, and I was keen to test it out and see what it was like.

Now first, a few caveats. I had the camera in the field for only a couple of hours. I took only still shots so I wasn’t able to try out the video component. This isn’t an in-depth review, these are purely my initial first impressions. And those are pretty favourable, I must admit.

[Read More…]

Your camera and phone will shut down in a heat wave. Here’s how to take care of your devices as temperatures soar

by 2 Comments

My computer melted. I mean, not like Salvador-Dali-liquid-clocks-style melted, but the internal components. The bits that made it go. I had closed my apartment up for a few weeks to travel that summer. It was a first-floor apartment in the historic old town. Idyllic narrow streets and no air conditioning. That year the temperatures were hovering around 40° celsius, not so different from now.

It has been a record-breaking summer for many parts of the world. The UK just recorded its highest temperature ever, at a brain-melting 40.3° C. Spain, France and Portugal are currently on their third heat wave of the season with wildfires burning. Heat warnings have been issued in Canada, Japan had its worst heatwave since records began, and even Alaska is on fire. Glaciers have collapsed in Italy. We all know to watch out for the elderly and the very young during heat waves, but do you know how to look after your electronic devices too?

[Read More…]

How much should a wedding photographer charge? The general public answer photography questions

by Leave a Comment

Are you team Nikon or Canon? Or perhaps you’re an outlier and prefer Sony? Here at DIYP we cover all of those bases, but what about the general public? What would they think if asked about camera brands?

In this entertaining video, Vahagraphy takes to the streets of Newport Beach, California to find out just how much the general public knows about photography.

[Read More…]

Recent Posts