DIY Photography

Your one stop shop for everything photo-video

Search

Submit A Story

Cooperative of Photography

Photograph an avocado to challenge yourself and push your photography skills

by 3 Comments

With such a varied world around us, it’s quite straightforward to find new and interesting subjects to shoot. But is this really pushing our abilities as photographers? Is it the subject that makes our new images interesting or how we photograph them? Getting a decent photograph of an interesting subject is easy, but what about a boring subject?

That’s the challenge posed in this video from the folks at COOPH. To photograph a rather boring and mundane object – in this case, an avocado – in as many different ways as possible to try to make some interesting images. Are you up to the challenge?

[Read More…]

7 tips to take your architectural photography to the next level

by Add Comment

Architectural photography is something that many of us try at some point in our photographic lives. I certainly have, on a number of occasions, although the results have never really been that good.

No doubt I’ll give it another go the next time I find myself in some beautiful town or city. But this time, I’ll have a few words of architectural wisdom from the guys at COOPH. In this video, they offer up seven tips to help us improve our architectural photography efforts.

[Read More…]

Use a drill to get cool slow motion rotating footage with your smartphone

by 1 Comment

The guys over at COOPH do come out with some pretty nutty ideas sometimes, but this one’s kinda out there. Although I’ll still probably give it a go at some point.

You know those cool gimbal shots where the camera’s moving towards a subject and the view is rotating before your eyes? Well, now they’ve thought up a way to do it with your phone without a gimbal. All it requires is a small block of wood, some gaffer tape and a cordless drill. Oh yes.[Read More…]

6 creative ways to use a gimbal for your video footage

by Add Comment

Gimbals are wonderful things, but just walking around holding a gimbal gets really boring really quickly, especially for the viewer. But that’s what often happens. Every shot looks like a “gimbal shot”. We’ve seen the same thing happen with drones, too. And like a drone, a gimbal can be a valuable storytelling tool, offering some unique shots.

In this video, the guys from COOPH show us six creative ways we can use gimbals to make more interesting footage. Footage that can help us tell a story and not just look like your typical gimbal footage.

[Read More…]

How to shoot amazing concert photography

by 1 Comment

Taking a break from their usual “X tips in Y minutes” type videos, COOPH interviews concert photographer Michael Agel in this one. It’s a peek into the world of somebody who’s been doing music photography for a living for over 30 years. COOPH caught up with Michael during the Montreux Jazz Festival, where offers up some advice for budding concert photographers.

[Read More…]

How to make your own DIY beauty dish for less than $10

by 1 Comment

The beauty dish has become a staple of portrait and fashion photographers. When used well, they offer a pleasing and flattering look to your subject. The price of beauty dishes has come down in recent years as more have come to market. But you’re still not usually going to find one as cheap as making your own.

In this video from the folks at COOPH, we see how we can make our own DIY beauty dish for minimal cost and tools. And while they portray it sitting on top of the camera in the video, and it will be better than using the popup flash, I’d still get it off the camera.

[Read More…]

8 DIY photo filters you can easily make at home

by 6 Comments

The fascination with degrading the performance of our gear is interesting. On the one hand, why does a person spend thousands of dollars on equipment to want to do that? On the other, it can have some neat visual effects, even if that’s sometimes down to luck. Regardless of the reasons, or what kit is being used, it’s quite popular. Even if just to play and experiment with. In this video, the guys at the Cooperative of Photography (COOPH) show us 8 ways to make our own DIY lens filters to get some of these effects.

[Read More…]

8 easy and effective DIY photography hacks using cardboard

by 1 Comment

Cardboard is such a wonderfully versatile product.  You can use it for all sorts of photography related things. Most of my cameras have arrived in boxes made from the stuff. But what can you do with it instead of throwing it away or leaving it to gather dust in the attic?

Well, here’s the folks from COOPH with 8 ways you can utilise cardboard with your photography. These are simple tips and tricks that can have a great effect. Most of us already have cardboard laying somewhere around the home, so there’s no cost, either.

[Read More…]

Smartphone Photography 101 helps you take better photographs with your phone

by 3 Comments

No matter how many photos people take with their phones, there’s still a lot of bad shots on there. We see them all day on Instagram and Facebook. Some of us shoot them and know we do, but we’re not sure how to get better. What can we do to help improve our shots?

Well, here comes the folks at COOPH to offer some suggestions. Most of these tips, though, aren’t limited to just smartphone photography. They apply equally as much to shooting with a DSLR, mirrorless or any other kind of camera, too.

[Read More…]

How to shoot great smartphone car photography to up your social media game

by 1 Comment

Car photography seems to be becoming increasingly popular recently. People love their cars, they’re proud of them, and they want to show them off. When I browse through the feed on Instagram, I see them with some regularity, even from people who don’t normally post car photos. Just because you might be shooting it for social media, though, it doesn’t mean they have to look bad.

This video from the guys at COOPH shows a whole bunch of tips and techniques to help. The goal is to help you get the best smartphone car photos you can. The tips aren’t all limited to phones, though. There’s a lot of great advice with regard to environment, lighting, and general composition that apply no matter what camera you’re using.

[Read More…]

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Recent Posts