This Article will demonstrate how to build a Lightbox. A Lightbox is something you can use to distribute light when photographing a small object. This is a common solution for studio photography. it is similar to the origami studio, only this time your light source is inside the box. [Read more…]
DIY – Create Your Own Bokeh
Bokeh is an adaptation from a a Japanese word meaning blur. In photography this term is used to describe the quality of the areas in the picture which are not in focus.
When referring to Bokeh, we can distinguish some of it characteristics:
– Is the light/dark gradient smooth or sharp?
– What shape will a small dot of light take what it is in the Bokeh area? (mirror lenses for example, create a bagel like Bokeh)
We can play with those two variants to create a special Bokeh.
DIY – Universal Sound and Optical Slave Flash Trigger
See this exploding grape picture? it was taken using a method called high-speed-photography. Yup, this is the same image type as those exploding balloons, squashed tomatoes and bullet shots. The idea is to capture a tiny moment in time, so tiny in fact, that you will not see it with your bar eyes. Trying to capture a flying bullet is not trivial, you can read about the general setup here. [Read more…]
DIY – High Speed Photography at Home
How to take photos like the one you are seeing here. It’s a glass of Champaign, being shot with a BB gun. You can use this technique to take picture of exploding things like tomatoes, watter balloons, watermelons, or even you Canon camera as you smash it against a wall for not understanding the menus (Sorry, could not resist…) [Read more…]
DIY – Sound Trigger for the Sigma EF-500 Flash
This article will describe my home made sound trigger electronic kit.
I use this circuit kit to take high speed photos like the nice tomato splash shown here (more about high speed photography setups). This circuit is not complicated and the total cost is low so it is even suitable as your first electronics kit. [Read more…]
The Sigma EF-500 flash – Light duration vs. output power
The measurements in the below table help to illustrate the amount of time that the flash is emitting light in each of its various power setting. This time is crucial when taking high speed photos.
Measurements were done with a Photo-diode, oscilloscope set to 50ohm.
| 1/1 Output power | |
| 1/2 Output power |  |
| 1/4 Output power |  |
| 1/8 Output power |  |
| 1/16 Output power |  |
| 1/32 Output power |  |
| 1/64 Output power |  |
| 1/128 Output power |  |
contributed by Karsten Stroemvig (aka Lullaby)
DIY – Release Cable for Canon DSLRs
This is a very simple diagram and instructions for building a shutter release cable for a canon DSLR.
Cable release is that thingamajig you use when you want to activate your camera, but you do not want to touch it. Why would you want t do this? I can think of two reasons: 1 – you do not want to move the camera by pressing the shutter release button. And 2 – you need to stand away from the camera. Compared with Cannon’s RS60 E3 this is a real nice deal. [Read more…]
