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DIY: Circle of Confusion Shape Modifier

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We are always happy to get a nice bokeh build tutorial in the blog, even if it means we have to throw away the name of our best product and find it a new one, maybe the circle of confusion masters kit…

Circle of Confusion Shape Modifier – At least that’s what I call it. I call it that because “circle of confusion” refers to the actual defocused spot, while “bokeh” refers to the aesthetic quality of the blurring caused by the larger-than-a-point circles of confusion. If you disagree with my reasoning, just ignore the title (darn, need to think of a new product name, UT). Anyway, since you are reading this, you have probably seen this article. I really liked the idea and made one just like it. It worked very well, but to make one for every shape I might want seemed a bit impractical due to the amount of space such a collection would require. So I set out to solve that “problem.” And here is what I came up with…

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Create A Tilt-Shift Lens From A Shower Head A Rubber Glove And a Nifty Fifty

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Flickr user Maciej Pietuszynski (blog) had a great shower when the idea of combining a shower head, a rubber glove and an old nifty fifty into a unique tilt shift lens.

Loving the idea of free lensing, yet hating the idea of the lens accidentally crashing into the ground, Maciej came up with a clever concept of utilizing a shower head for its smoothness.

The Nifty fifty has undergone surgery to separate the bionet from the lens and install an advanced tilt-shift mechanism in the form of a shower head held in place with a heavy duty rubber glove. Hit the jump for the full pictorial.[Read More…]

Valentines: 6 Hearts Bokeh Pictures

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With Valentines evening fast approaching I thought I would do a small shameless plug for the bokeh masters kit and showcase 5 romantic pictures taken with the device and the hearts filter.

Of course, if you are more of the romantican and wanna make a romantic hearts bokeh yourself, you can follow the instructions here.

Untitled by Liana Garcia Joyce

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Show Your Lens Some Love By Making It A Carbon Fiber Hood

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Carbon Fiber is the new Titanium! All the good stuff is made with carbon fiber, the nice tripods, the nice monopods, the nice rigs and the nice stabilizers. With all those carbon fibers accessories, your lens is must be feeling left out.

Fear not, this guide by Laya Gerlock will show you how to spoil your lens with a Carbon-Fiber hood in 5 easy steps. (OK, it’s a decal, still is pretty awesome)

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Steel Wool Light Painting Can Be Bad For Your Lens

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One of the best ways to make interesting light painting is to get a piece of steel wool on a string and spin it around on a long exposure (see tutorial here).

While we always warn folks to be cautious and wear goggles and long sleeves while spinning a piece of burning metal we never actually talked about camera safety.

Photographer Jon Beard learned that the lens needs to be protected as well the hard way. One of the sparks from the spinning wool hit his $2,000 Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G glass and stuck on the front element. Hit the jump for more details and a lens close up.[Read More…]

Nasty In Vegas (A Post-PMA Post)

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Having the opportunity to visit the industry at PMA and CES this year was rad, but what was even radder was the chance to meet and have fun with a few of my personal industry heroes, Zeke of Nice Photo Mag, Matt of Nasty Clamps and James of Orbis. We spent some time talking gear and the industry but having spent too much time confined in the show rooms, Zeke and I need some venting. We took a Nasty Clamp a Canon s100 and an strobe and roamed the strip. Having limited gear, we wanted to see what we can come up with.

What started as a fun (yet cold) evening ended with security kicking us out of the boardwalk for taking professional photographs, but I am getting ahead of myself.[Read More…]

Use a DIY Super Clamp For Shooting in Confined Spaces

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If you ever had to shoot in a confined space you know that getting your light in the place can be challenging .Limited space, cabinets and shelves all join hands in eliminating good lighting placements.

Photographer Allen Mowery put together a DIY Super Clamp that allows mounting your strobe on almost every semi-open door or shelf.

We have featured two similar products before, a DIY Clamp and the Nasty Clamps, each with its own merits. This design uses a controllable pressure clamp which I can see useful when the need to mount larger weights rises.

Here is a video describing the use of the clamp, followed by a link to the DIY guide on Allen’s blog.[Read More…]

Your Complete Guide For Photographing Maya In The Year Of Apocalypse

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Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you’ve almost certainly heard that the ancient Maya long-count calendar rolls over in December this year. Along with spurring the release of a frenzy of apocalyptic books, this event is also helping spawn renewed tourist interest in Maya ruins. Not to miss out on the opportunity (and free publicity), Mesoamerican communities are hosting a number of special events to celebrate the historic occasion. And governments in what was once the Maya realm have funded a new wave of restoration projects at ruin sites.

So regardless of whether your driving interest is culture or history, art or archaeology, you may well be considering (if not yet planning) a photography trip to the Maya realm. If this is the case for you, please allow me to pass along a few pointers based on my experiences in the area.[Read More…]

Light Painting Is All About Cute Girls Throwing Beads

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If you thought that the physics behind light painting involves photon accumulation, advanced sensor technology and high end buffer management, you have it all wrong.

The truth of the thing, as Destin explains, is that light painting is done by cute girls throwing beads at boxes. OK, it does not, but Destin and daughter (and Wes Whaley) do a terrific job and explaining all this stuff in a fun and super easy to understand way. (Plus you get to see some of the most unique pregnancy photoshoots ever). Hit the jump to see the full video.[Read More…]

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