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How To Build A Spherical Panoramic (360) Head

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With software like PTgui and Adobe’s built in CS6 photomerge stitching of almost any sequence of semi-overlapping photos into a panorama is a no brainer. That goes for hand held, and definitely for tripods. (And even for the iPhone 4S panorama feature)

But if you want a precise panorama, a “regular” tripod and head combo is not enough. If you want to get your panorama pieces perfect for stitching you have to rotate not around the camera base, but around the camera’s entrance pupil. This is where a dedicated pano-head comes into play. 

A panoramic head has calibration options so the camera rotates around the entrance pupil which depends both on lens and camera. There are dedicated pano-heads out there like the excellent panosaurus, Nodal Ninja and 360 Precision, there are some super cool DIY options out there ranging from easy through medium to complex.

5teve over at photography-on-the.net was inspired by Dr. Sean Parkin’s design and built quite an impressive DIY pano-head. Aside from being a kickass pano-head, one of the nice things about it is that it uses no “heavy” tooling and can probably be built at your garage even if you don’t have a lathe or a CNC machine at your disposal.[Read More…]

Fitting A Modern Camera With An Old-School Flashbulb

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Swedish photographer Sven Hedin was not happy with the flash his the Nikon 1 V1. specifically the proprietary hotshoe mount (and he is not the first one to dislike that).

As any hacker would do he fitted his camera with a shiny new Flashbulb mechanism. Yea, bulb as in old press flashes where you exchange the bulb.

[Read More…]

Landscapes V3 Is One Heck Of An Epic Timelapse

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This blog has seen its share of time lapse movies. But this time lapse caught us completely unprepared.

Dustin Farrell skipped his work here and there as VP/DP at Crew West to shoot a collection of time lapse videos all over the world. With trips to the entire desert southwest and two trips to Iceland (summer and winter) he really captured some amazing footage.

As far as gear goes, Dustin used a Canon 5D Mk3 for camera (check 2:34 for some 3200ISO porn), Dynamic Perception timelapse rails, and a motorized TB3 pan/tilt head from eMotimo.

Kinda makes me feel bad about the things that I do when I skip job.[Read More…]

How To Create A Wall Of Fire

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When Barry Elder first approached me with this tutorial I have to admit that I was kinda scared to put it online. I mean, it is not just dangerous, it practically defines danger. But… involving both fire and an Ultima GTR, it was too cool to give up on.

So here is the tutorial. Please use your head if you are going to try it out. Make sure you are safe, have a fire extinguisher close by and alert the near fire station on your plans. It will save you both a huge headache. You can head over to our steel wool light painting tutorial and safety is pretty much similar.

I have been asked on a number of occasions how I created the firewall shown in the above image, in this guide I will show you the basic concept from which you can let your imagination go wild![Read More…]

Using Textured Wallpaper as a DIY Product Backdrop – An Exercise

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One of the easy ways to get interesting backdrop (at least for small objects) is to use textured papers. They come in small enough packaging to be comfortable to handle and the texture allows for some interesting play with light.

Photographer Mo Bius shared a test shoot with such papers as a photography exercise. I think the results are interesting. (Note that the actual tea pot is flagged from the strobe in all the setups and is lit separately in the final picture)[Read More…]

Building A Smooth Portable Video Dolly From Scraps

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Photographer Patrick Luke built quite a clever video Dolly. While we have had our share of dollies and sliders before, I don’t think I’ve seen something this cost effective yet.

Here is a break down, curtsey of Patrick. We did not put any sizes down as those may vary depending on how wide or long you would like your dolly to be, but the guidelines should provide enough direction if you would like to build your own.[Read More…]

Download Adobe CS2 For Free

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Update: this was too good to be true, and Adobe shut it down (the dead link is not a result of overload). Read what this download was all about after the jump.

Here is something I did not see coming. (and had to verify that it was not April’s 1st for a second). Adobe has just release their entire Creative Suit for free download.

It is not the latest version, but rather the 2005 CS2 version, but it rocked back then and it still rocks today if you are looking for a free photo editing program, video editing program, layout and all the rest of Adobe’s Creative suite goodies.

I figure Adobe would rather people use their (bit dated) software for free than have 60% of its users pirate it.[Read More…]

“Light Painting” Done With Light Emitting Algae

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Usually we use a wide array of battery powered lights and fireworks  to create light paintings. This is not the case with the photographs below that were “light painted” by Bioluminescence algae.

Australian photographer Phil Hart tells an interesting tale about a weird tale of events.

Just like the frog rain in Magnolia, those pictures have a story of unique and rare coincidence. [Read More…]

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