When it comes to portrait lighting, Joel Grimes abides by some basic principles to achieve just the look he is going for. But, while those principles are basic, they may not necessarily be obvious. Fortunately, Grimes is a great educator and has made this quick video tutorial to share some of his pro advice and deliver us with a very simple way to get several different lighting looks using just one strobe, a reflector, and an octobox.[Read More…]
Easily Make Your Own Diffusion Panels For Less Than $30
Diffusion blades (or panels) are incredibly useful things to have laying around a photography studio. Why pay over $100 each for a blade when you can build them yourself quickly and easily for a 1/3 of the price? In this video tutorial, Tony Roslund shows us how he makes his own blades using easily resourced materials.[Read More…]
A Trio – DIY Multi-Flash Strobe Mount
Multi flash mounts are cool. I have discussed them before when we did a DIY on a dual flash mount. Just a quick recap: Using multiple flashed allows you to either drive more light or to remain on the same light level, while recycling faster. You can read it all here.
Using some objects that my wife will call junk elements smartly scattered around the house, photographer Brent Pennington made a three-way flash mount. Ha! Three is better than two. It will drive a stop and a half more.
As a bonus, Brent’s device relives you of the need to use a stud on your swivel. That’s a major bonus if you are like me and keep losing them. Kudos.
Of course, you could always sin and get the one made by Lastolite, but then where would all the fun (and your 70 greens) would be?
Read the entire tutorial and deep thoughts on Brent’s Blog.[Read More…]
Light Tents
Photographer Peter Karlsson has it all worked out when it comes to travel light. Peter is a Strobist at heart and as such he is using small flashes quite a bit. The coolness comes in when you see how he places his flashes in space.
Instead of your orthodox light stand solution Peter uses a home brewed light stand made of tent poles. Those are great for travel for several reasons: There are super light-weight, they fold small and they will definitely make your subject go WOW! Luckily for photographers wold wide there are two vids available that shows how those light stands were made. [Read More…]
Light Tent And Paper Binders – Refolded
Today @AM time I discussed a light tent made from virtually nothing but coroplast and binders. (Not the previous supermarket-box-light-tent took more products to make).
Then I saw a variation on that theme by Nathan Moroney that used nothing but paper binders to create a very similar light same tent.
Now, if you think that coroplast tent was frugal, this one is on the fringe of being made from pure nothing. (Link and musing after the jump).
Create a Flat-Fold Light Tent Using Coroplast
Light tents (also called light boxes) are a great way to shoot a product. They eliminate harsh reflections and create appealing highlights. This specific light tent from Robert Miler has a nice twist since it can fold flat for storage.
It is all Robert from after the jump
Two Flashes Are Better Than One + Simple DIY Multi-Flash Bracket Tutorial
I guess this should go without saying, but I am going to say it anyhow: two flashes are better than one. Now you must be wondering why?
For starters, two flashes will get you a higher score on the GAS scale. (G.A.S. stands for Gear Acquisition Syndrome). This alone is a good reason to get two. But there are lighting oriented reasons as well. For some tech talk and a multi flash bracket tutorial, hit the jump.[Read More…]
The (Really HUGE) Kimel Bouncer
OK, we have done bouncers and diffusers before. We had a nice paper/foamy version of the LumiQuest and a nice paper version of the Stofen. So what’s the big deal about this one?
Firstly, it comes to you from Martin Kimeldorf, the guy who converted his lightstand to backdrop mount.
Secondly it is the HUGEST bouncer I’ve ever seen. Excluding the ceiling bounce, of course.
The Headphones Pop Up Flash Diffuser
In this article Mohamed Talal shows us how to make a simple diffuser for a DSLR pop up flash.
There are three things that separate this diffuser from other diffusers we have featured before. The first is the total cost – this one really costs nothing. The second one is the size of the diffusion panel. By using this method you get a nicely sized diffusion panel. Lastly, a quick mod will turn this diffuser to a ring flash.
It is called the Headphones diffuser, but don’t feel obliged to use headphones casing, you can use GI-Joe’s casings, Transformers casings, or just a nice pieces of transparent material.
Making a Softbox Just Got Easier
If you’ve been reading DIYP for a while now, you know that I am a fool for home made softboxes.
DIYP has featured all kind of softboxes, ranging from small light weight camera strobe to big studio photography strobes. Some are minutes to build and some are hours. Here is a list of some of the better softboxes we’ve had here on DIYP:
– The Best Softbox Ever (Image is from this project by Nick Wheeler)
– Two Great Weekend Projects – Striplight and Softbox
– Even Better Softbox Part One – The Build Process
– Even Better Softbox Part Two – The Test Results
– a home grown softbox
– Flash Mounted homemade DIY Softbox
One of the trickier parts of growing a softbox at home is the planning. The delicate work done by professionals to calculate the lengths of segments. The gentle work of trigonometry to calculate the angels. Light-less nights spent in dark basements with calipers.
(Actually it is the drawing of the the
individual pieces before you glue them together that is the real hard task)
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