Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time
You might know the Pixelstick. “nothing compares” is one of their statements. And this is true. At least price-wise. The Original Pixelstick retails for EURO 399,– here in Germany. I have always wanted one to at least try out some lightpainting with it.
The Pixelstick is a 188cm RGB lightstrip on a stick that plays bitmap files. It weighs 1,6kg, has a nice display to select files, has a remote release and runs on 8 AA batteries. Oh and it comes in a nice bag. Still 399,– is a bit steep.
Many of us are in self-isolation or quarantine right now, and it requires a lot of self-discipline. You may have extra time on your hand and you need to spend it at home. If you ask me, it’s not easy at all, especially if you live alone. Starting a DIY project will help you fulfill your time, divert your thoughts, and make something new for your photography. A perfect combo.
So, in this article I bring you some suggestions for DIY projects. I chose ten of them and focused on those that require mainly the stuff you already have. This way, you don’t have to leave home to get the parts and you can start building right now.
What would you do with a computer you used 20 years ago? Most of us would take it to a recycling center, perhaps feel a bit emotional about ditching it, and that’s about it. But Iranian photographer Alireza Rostami had other plans for his old, broken computer. He dismantled it and turned it into a working large format camera.
If you want to bring out your inner hunter but you wouldn’t hurt a fly, Alex of I did a thing has a fun DIY project for you. He has made a rifle that lets you shoot animals in the only humane way: with your camera. This camera rifle is cheap and easy to make, and Alex shares the build process in the video below.
Perhaps you’ve already used an egg timer to add some motion to your timelapse videos. But have you tried turning it into an orbiting 360° timelapse rig? With a PVC pipe and a few more simple and cheap “ingredients,” you can raise your timelapse videos to a whole new level. In this video, Dave Knop a.k.a. Knoptop will show you how.[Read More…]
I’ve written about this project in the past, as I originally made the rain machine and shot with it in 2012, however we’ve now done it in video form! Hopefully it shows a little more detail about the construction and how I shot with it. I made this just for fun really, it rains enough here in the UK that you really don’t need a rain maker, but this allowed me the control of putting studio lights outside without getting electrocuted!
If you’re a photographer, chances are that someone has bought you a lens mug so far. Or maybe you already have a few of those (I know I do). We all know more than one lens mug is just too much – so why not repurpose it? In this video, Dave Knop a.k.a. Knoptop will show you how to turn a lens mug into a desk lamp. It’s simple to make and it looks pretty neat!
A reflector and a flag are useful pieces of kit you should have in your kit. In this video, photographer Alastair Bird shows you how to make your own 2-in-1 reflector and flag. The white side works as a reflector to give you a nice, soft fill light, and you can use the black side as a flag. It’s cheap, easy to build, and it fits in your car along with all the gear you carry to a shoot.
It often takes only a bit of creativity and some household items to make something awesome for your photo or video work. After all, that’s what probably brought you to this blog in the first place, right? In this video, Kyle and Jamie of Field of View and Michael Lohrum of DIYCameraGuy team up to bring you 11 simple DIY tricks you can do to improve your photos and videos.
You already have most of these items and home, and if you don’t: they’re cheap and easy to find. So, it’s practically effortless to pull these tricks off, yet you can achieve some pretty creative effects. Take a look.
Controlling and modifying light is a lot of what photography with studio lights and battery powered strobes are about. Especially when it comes to portraits, I like to work with my lighting setups so they add something that is not perfect or flat.
Twisting and turning your lights to make use of the edges is one very effective way of doing that. Breaking up the light with a scrim, gobo or something else is also very rewarding.
This DIY project is all about a cheap prism from a LED Disco Party Bulb that I found for under 10 EUR/USD.
You can find out more about John on his website and follow his adventures on YouTube and Facebook.
His videos have over a hundred million views, have been extensively published by news outlets, and has even received recognition from a few film festivals, such as International Ocean Festival
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