David Johnson’s photo series of long exposure fireworks with a focus pull technique have gone viral around the web. Many people have been asking about the exact technique and settings, so I thought I’d construct a quick tutorial of how to produce photos like these. This is a How I Took It Contest entry.
The Winner Of Our How I Took It Contest Is….
So, new year is just around the corner and I am in a debt for announcing our How I Took It contest winners. A debt that I am about to clear today.
Whichever way I look at it, it was an awesome ride, starting with a killer team of sponsors which contributed over $6300 in prizes through the on going buzz, and most importantly the submissions made to the contest by you.
I got a few questions about how the judging process went, so I thought I will clarify about that before listing the winners. basically it all came down to a huge excel sheet containing over 100 submissions. Each submission was rated by the amount of likes, retweets and G+ mentions that it got and fed into a formula Score=(3xTweets)+(2xLikes)+(6xG+). The highest scores won the contest. [Read More…]
Poll: Which Tutorial Did You Like Best?
How about YOU get to decide!!
We have had over 100 submission to our How I Took It Contest and I could not be happier with the results. A few of the more awesome tutorials on the contest are here for your judgment where the finer of the all will win the Readers Favorite banner along with the eternal bragging rights and a prize pack worth over $700. Take your vote on the poll below. Results and grand winner on Thursday.
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Build A Mega 50MP+ Wide Angle Digital Pinhole Lens
I thought I’ve seen it all with pinholes. From getting them in walnuts to making a run on three 35mm films. David O’Sullivan proved me wrong with his submission to our How I Took It. David created a 50MP pinhole camera by cleverly using a body cap. Definitely not how I’ve seen body cap/pinhole combos done before.
Like many people with a DSLR I have experimented on and off with the ubiquitous pinhole lens made out of a body cap and some aluminium cans. I have always been disappointed with the results as they end up just being blurry photographs and don’t have any of the magic a ‘real’ pinhole does. Real pinhole photographs are often very wide angle and have characteristic vignetting around the edges. This imparts a dreamy or other-worldly feeling to the image.
I set out to improve on the idea and build my own.
How To Make A Vintage Camera Half Case
Here is an awesome entry to our How I Took It Contest from Mambastik. It’s a vintage case for vintage looking cameras. This specific one is for the Olympus Pen EP1, but the process described makes it a breeze to adopt to any camera.
Speaking of How I Took It, the submission period is over and we are working hard an rallying up the dozens of entries and reviewing them all. Results soon.
I decided to do this build as an alternative to expensive camera cases found on various online shops. I’ve always asked myself, “why is it so expensive? I could probably make it myself!” And so I took on the challenge. I made this a while back, but have made improvements since then.
How To Create A Steel Wool Light Painting Vortex
Our How I Took It Contest got an impressive number of steel wool light painting tutorials. I wanted to share this one from Mike Mikkelson as it introduces two new elements that we’ve never had on the blog before: a super smart steel wool cage (rather than the whisker that we usually use) and the creation of a vortex. Enjoy.
I get a lot of comments on my Steel Wool Vortex image, and I have had many people ask me how I took it. Most people are surprised when I let them know that it is steel wool on the end of a cable, lit on fire, and then spun around very fast to create the sparks. Although the art of steel wool photography is not new or unique, I have constructed a re-usable rig that has helped me make some great fire wool images. This thread will explain how I created a custom cage for steel wool photography, and how I made the Fire Wool Vortex image.
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How To Build A Soft Focus Filter From A Sink Drainer
Here is a quick and fun project submitted to our How I Took It Contest by Nick Cool. It shows how to build a soft focus filter (kinda like a lensbaby soft focus) from a small-hole sink filter.
This is what the resulting photographs will look like out of camera.
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10 Days Left To Win Over $6300 Of Photo Gear In Our How I Took It Contest
Heya folks, this is our friendly message to let you know that there are 10 days left to submit entries to our How I Took It Contest. The winner will get an awesome package of photography goodies worth over $6300, including a brand new Nikon D7000 + 18-105mm Lens or a Canon 60D + 18-200mm Lens D7000.
We’ve had a great run of entries so far which you can find here. The full list of prizes to get you inspired is after the jump.
How To Make Your Body Disappear In A Photograph
this submission for our How I Took It contest, is a n oldie but a goodie. Photographer AndrewVincent shows us how to create a transparent body. While this post is for a relatively simple end results, there are some great composite tips to be found in the tutorial, and sheds some light on how flying babies and axed head photos are made.
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A Video Tethering Dolly From A Surveying Tripod
This little video is quite an interesting submission to our How I took it contest by Julien Robitaille.
There are only 2 weeks left to submit your entries, so don’t wait for the last minute.
The video after the jump shows how a gathering of various stuff found around the house (or garage) can be re-purposed to be a video/tether dolly. While I am not sure about the saving on this build, it does show a few interesting uses for aluminum plates, surveying tripods, and the useful four heads tripod accessory from Manfrotto.
Actually, I’ve been getting quite a few submission about re-purposing surveying tripods . Since they don’t belong in the ‘photography’ section they are a great value for not a lot of money.[Read More…]
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