Gobos can be wonderful things. They’re essentially stencils or templates that go between the light and your subject. They’re designed to help shape the light and project patterns. But you don’t have to cut them out of card yourself. You can use pretty much anything to cast a shadow on your subject or the backdrop. In this video from photographer Bill Lawson, we see 7 household items that we can turn into DIY gobos.
How to get awesome photos with a boring background
Shooting indoors, especially in somebody’s home, often leads to some rather dull backgrounds. Usually, you’re stuck with just a bare solid coloured wall. But whether you’re using flash or continuous light, there are things you can do to make things more interesting.
This video from photographer, Svitlana Vronska shows us one way to make things more interesting. With the help of a large sheet of white board from the dollar store.
Everything you ever needed to know about C-Stands
C-Stands have been a staple support system in the photography and film industries for longer than many of us can remember, but there’s more to this seemingly simple tool than one might assume at first glance.
This video from Jay P. Morgan of The Slanted Lens shows us everything there is to know about these humble yet very versatile light stands.
How I Shot This Farm House Environmental Portrait with a Perforated Cardboard
I took this photo as part of a lighting class in Costa Rica. The theme was people who represent the spirit of the farm where the class was held. It was a colonial building hidden in the country side of Costa Rica. While we were fortunate to have a great model, I used a few simple tricks to make the scene work.
How To Use A Business Card Book To Keep Track Of Gobos And Gels
Some ideas are simple. Simple to the point of how didn’t I came up with this… Such is this clever repurposing that Eric Krügl gave his business cards book. Those little black books are slowly disappearing from our world and being replaced with the contact app on our smart devices…
But then you look at all your Light Blaster Gobos and Gels that you cut for your strobes and you realize that it is that book that can bring order to them all. It is the simplicity of the solution that makes it so good so I am going to let the photos talk:
Use This Simple Technique To Create The Illusion Of Different Spaces Using Only One Light
A few months back, I wrote an article on how to use everyday objects for outstanding backdrops. This post can be considered a part two of that post, as it shows a simple technique to using a piece of cardboard to create the illusion of space.
Using Everyday Objects For Making Outstanding Backdrops
I am a big fan of using simple objects or DIYing solutions in my photograph. One thing I always like doing is using a Gobo (photography lingo fo go-between) to make any plain background stand out. Nowadays, I am using a device called the Light Blaster which can act as a dedicated gobo projector, but before I got it, I DIYed my own patterns for the background.
So here are examples of everyday objects I use to create some cool patterns on the background.
New Light Blaster™ Creative Kit Is Metal. And Razor Sharp!
The folks at Spiffy Gear just announced a new Creative Kit for their Light Blaster portable image projection system – the Pro Gobo | Kit 1.
While we fancy the entire system in general, we love this new kit because it delivers something that the other kits did not – real blacks.
Being made out of the same metal that is used for stage lighting gobos this kit is thin enough to fir in the Light Blaster system, but being made of metal, the light only goes though the etched places and does not go through the metal providing real black on any projected surface. It also works wonderfully with gels.[Read More…]
Lighting Technique: Flagging and Feathering
One question I always encounter when teaching my workshops is how to control the spill of light, and the bounce of light. While this is always a good question, it mostly applies in on site/in doors shoots. Here are some simple lighting techniques that everyone should know. Those techniques may be trivial to some and new to others. Either way, they are very helpful in controlling light. The below examples also show that sometimes the easiest fix to our problems may be just simple and in plain sight and simple.[Read More…]
Readers Projects – Thomas Schwenger Complete Two Seconds Lighting Kit
I said it before, and I’ll say it again. The reason why bloggin’ about DIY and Photography makes me a happy person it because I get to tap into a great stream of creativity fro mother great photographers out there.
Take Thomas Schwenger for example. After getting some from the Strobist and DIY community Thomas now gives back one of the lightest and easiest lighting kits for portables strobes. With a single page snoot, a mini GOBO and a filter holder, Thomas wins the DIYP kit of the year award. (Of course, like a being a warded a knighthood, there mostly honor in the title, no dough at all.
