Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time
I have a two DIY ring-flashes. My first one was made out of illustration board, and the second one was made of out of a bucket of fried chicken from our local restaurant. Here is my step by step tutorial on how to make your own DIY ring flash using the leftovers of a KFC dinner. (of course you can but a DIY ring flash kit or a totally pro solution as well, but then the KFC leftovers will be thrown away rather than recycled).
It takes about two hours to make one.
Our favorite maker, Chad Bredahl (previously featured here and here), just released a quickie on how to build a camera Pistol Grip.
A pistol grip is not an expensive item per-se (the great handle from P&C, for example, is about $19), but I love the idea behind it and I think a similar mechanism can definitely be used for other builds as well. And besides, who can resist the chance to dissect a lil girl jump rope.
If you ever tried to shoot video with a DSLR, you’ve probably noticed how quickly your wrist starts to heart. This happen because camera grips were not designed for video. A camera pistol grip changes your hand orientation while holding the camera to a more natural position do it does not get soar after a while. (Kinda similar to how you hold a pistol, hence the name).[Read More…]
By now, we are kinda used to the fact that RAW images can be pulled or pushed to recover details in what were once lost photos.
It seems though that with “cheap” camera that produce RAW footage like the Blackmagic Cinema Camera (or a Magic Lantern loaded Canon), pulling overexposed movies is becoming a viable option for amateurs / advance amateurs videographers too. (It was always an option for the pros).
Swedish videographer Mattias Burling did a short test showing how much burnt data you can recover when shooting RAW with a Blackmagic camera.[Read More…]
It was not that long ago when Lytro stunned to world with a camera that can re-focus in post production. This was quite a revolution as till then, the focus point was at the time when the shutter opened, was the focus pint and that was it. Millions of photos ruined by being almost in focus but not quite and Lytro aimed to change that. The hype, however, did not convert into a fed.
Now researchers in Saarland University in Saarbrücken, Germany extend the idea of Lytro to enable post production control of almost any possible aspect of photography including: exposure, light-temperature, focus and polarization. (and even a bit of spatial control) They call it The KaleidoCam. This video explains how it works.[Read More…]
They say a picture is worth a thousand words and a movie is worth a thousand pictures. But sometimes you want something in between, something that is as still as an image, yet conveys action like a film. This is an action sequence shot.
Sometimes the best way to achieve an effect is to do it in post. So this post will not involve any gear hacking (although I can think of some elaborate ways to make this with no post at all), but some good old post processing method.
An action sequence shot as a still image that is made from several frames. In the following tutorial Kaan Kiran demonstrates one method of making such action shot.
Panoramas: a great format for (in my opinion) most photography. Dramatic landscape? Make it panoramic. Artsy architectural photo? Panoramic. Wanna make that softball game look a little more like Ben-Hur? Panoramic, of course. Weddings? Well… never mind. So as a panoramic enthusiast, and someone who enjoys shooting film, I’ve had my eye on several panoramic film cameras. Unfortunately, a true, full panorama camera can be very costly, like the Hasselblad XPan (>$3,000) or the Fuji GX617 (>$2,000).
There are also swing lens cameras, which use a mechanical method of capturing a panorama. The lens of the camera pivots or “swings” in a horizontal arc, exposing the film to the panorama as it moves. This mechanical motion can add distortion to photos which may be a desirable effect for some. A handful of companies produced these cameras, like the Widelux F7 (<$1000) used notably by Jeff Bridges behind the scenes of his films, or the more affordable Horizon Kompkt (<$200).
Some bands are better than others, and some are so bad I’d quite happily remove them. Of course, I’m talking about banding in your concert images, not the actual bands themselves on stage, although…nope, scratch that thought! I’m strictly talking about photography here, not musical taste.
So what causes this undesirable effect, and if you do encounter it, how do you avoid it or remove it after the fact? In this video, photographer David Bergman tells you how to tackle this frequent problem.
Box cameras are one of the most unique and fascinating types of cameras you can play with if you’re into analogue. Also referred to as Afghan Box Cameras, they’ve been around for over a hundred years, and there are still some in daily use today. Building one from scratch, though, can be quite daunting. While they are fairly simple in their construction, there are lots of little details to take into account.
The Instant Box Camera is a portable, lightweight box camera that’s available as a DIY build kit by Lukas Birk. Like the Afghan Box Camera, it’s large format and features a built-in darkroom, allowing you to shoot and develop your direct positive (or negative) prints right out of the box, so to speak. It’s currently running on Kickstarter, where it’s already beaten its goal with 28 days left.
As a model maker, I’ve recently started live-streaming my work to connect with my audience and share my creative process. However, capturing the right angle can be challenging, especially when using a full-fledged DSLR with a tele macro lens. There’s not a lot of room on a craft bench for a camera. Also, positions with a clear line of sight to the actual work are tricky to find.
In this post, I’ll describe how I made a low-profile stand for my camera. A stand that holds my camera stable and fits the standard module size of a HobbyZone craft workstation. If you are familiar with the Platypod system, this is somewhat of a similar concept.
Creating a conceptual photoshoot can seem like a very daunting task. How do I make a photo “conceptual”? The key is to avoid overthinking. Here’s how David and I go about planning a conceptual photoshoot.
First, let’s make sure we understand what conceptual photography is.
FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!