fbpx

DIY Photography

Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time

Search

 

Submit A Story

Studio Lighting – Really cheap homemade diy studio – no lighting needed

by 1 Comment

So, you want to start your own homemade photography studio but you are totally broke and you want it to be cheap. Actually, being cheap is your prime demand from this studio. You don’t need no external fancy lighting or strobes, you don’t want them expensive softboxes. You just want to try out some still life photography, or you need take some shots for eBay. This article is just for you.

Here is what I have to offer for about 1–3 USD. This still life photography studio utilizes a huge softbox and a seamless backdrop. But before we start lets see some of the prime requirements from a still life photo studio. We want to get even light, with good shadow management and a smooth background that will not distract from our main subject.[Read More…]

Studio Lighting – Cheap DIY Homemade Reflector Stand

by 1 Comment

The following article about how to build a homemade reflector stand was contributed by Brian Zimmerman. You will want to use a reflector if you only have one light source, or in other cases where you want to eliminate shadows from a dark place and don’t have a flash to place there. The trick is how to place this reflector in the most effective way. [Read More…]

Studio Lighting – Home Made Cheap DIY Backdrop Stand

by 5 Comments

In The following article, Brian will demonstrate how to build a DIY backdrop stand. The stand, along with matching backdrop will help to create a controlled environment, with good subject/background separation. The cost is very low, just some PVC pipes, muslin and two really good hands. Oh, and a wife to agree to place this in the leaving room.[Read More…]

Studio Lighting – DIY Homemade Flash Mini-Bouncer

by Leave a Comment

Here Brian shows how to build a homemade cheap flash bouncer. The flash bouncer can be used to increase the size of a hot-shoe flash. The bouncer is great and very easy to build. An alternative to the bouncer is the home made softbox. Another option for building this homemade flash bouncer is to use polypropylene sheet, it is sterdier then cardboard. Enjoy your read, Udi.[Read More…]

Studio Lighting – Soft Panel Frame Designed for Hotlight

by Leave a Comment

A stand made of 3/4″ PVC to hold a diffusion panel made of ripstop nylon that slides up and down and tilts. Sliding joint is made of a “Slip-Tee” as described in the Tinker Tubes document at “http://www.software-cinema.com/tinkertubes/tt-book.pdf”. Total cost, including 500W light stand, nylon and PVC parts is about $50. I also got a similar quartz-halogen 250W clip-on light for about $15 that I hung above to add some highlights to the hair.

A 250W light was hung above and slightly to the right and behind the subject to add some highlights to the hair. [Read More…]

Studio Lighting – DIY Cheap Soft Light Panel Frame Designed for Flash (or hotlight)

by Leave a Comment

Soft light Panel Introduction

In the following article, Brian Zimmerman will demonstrate the construction of a soft light panel frame. As Brian will illustrate, the soft light panel frame can be used to reduce the harshness of light, and to crate soft eye pleasing picture. THe soft light panel can be used to take portrait pictures, or still life picture. The construction is not easy, but very rewarding.
Enjoy your build.

[Read More…]

Studio Lighting – Homemade Cheap Flash Diffuser (DIY)

by Leave a Comment

In this article Aron Brand will demonstrate how, using homemade and accessible materials, you can improve the light quality of a simple slave flash, and get a natural and soft light. This sort of light is good for jewelry photography, shooting items for eBay and portraits. Note the picture at the end of this article, not only showing softer shadows, but also pops the look of the metal, giving it more polished, expensive look. Similar methods to obtain the same effect can be a light tent, of a flash mounted softbox. Good luck.[Read More…]

Studio Lighting – Flash Mounted homemade DIY Softbox

by 3 Comments

If you are a photographer and using flash (either for studio pictures or for outdoor shooting), you are probably aware of the problems that a hot-shoe flash introduces: the shadows of an object are crisp-sharp, creating an artificial look to the object. When dealing with studio lighting, you can use a softbox to diffuse your shadows and this is an acceptable solution, but for the amateur photographer it does have some disadvantages:

1. A softbox is very expensive. A simple softbox like this softbox from Arri, can cost several hundreds of dollars. (See our big DIY softbox version)
2. A softbox is big, and can not be carried around.

The amateur photographer can compromise and us a flash mounted softbox like this softbox from Lumiquest, or a stoffen box. The problem with this one (although a minor one compared to the “big” Softboxes), is the cost, nearing 30 dollars. Well, I guess that for some 30 bucks is no big deal (and especially no big deal for photography equipment), but I am going to try and do even better.

In the following tutorial, I will demonstrate how to make your own flash mounted, homemade softbox (view results).

You will need two good hands, and some patience, but your reward will be a nice softbox for the cost of only 3-4 dollars. (Not to mention that wonderful feeling of cutting and gluing, like you are small kids again).

you might also want to check out the DIY Mini Flash Bouncer Guide or the DIY Mini Flash Diffuser Guide as alternate diffusing solutions.[Read More…]

Recent Posts