DIY Photography

Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time

Search

Submit A Story

Jimmy Nelson shares the challenges of photographing 31 vanishing people groups

by Leave a Comment

I’ve always been fascinated by anthropology, but, with a father who was an anthropology professor, it’s little wonder that some of it wore off on me. In a utopian world, I think, at least, that my ideal life’s mission would be jetting off to the four corners of the world to document those people who are sort of hidden from the rest of the planet.

While he claims no title of anthropologist, photographer Jimmy Nelson did just that, setting off with an air of romanticism to capture the beauty of 31 vanishing people groups throughout the world.

[Read More…]

Four Photographers Armed With A Hasselblad Take On The Streets Of Tokyo For A One Roll Of Film Challenge

by 9 Comments

 

What happens when you give a pro photographer a Hassleblad 503cx, a single roll of 120 film, and mission to tell the story of Tokyo in just 12 analog frames? Find out in this 18-minute behind the scenes look at the challenge where Mattias Westfalk, Bahag, Yoshiki Suzuki, and Paul del Rosario almost make it look easy. (It’s actually really difficult.)

The project may not sound like much of a challenge, as Westfalk points out in the opening scene, anyone can go out and shoot 12 frames, but to create 12 images worthy of printing is no walk in the park. The ease of digital photography and image storage allows us to fire off as many images as we like until we are happy with what we have, but ask any film photographer about their process, and chances are you’ll hear quite a different approach. Getting 12 usable photos from 12 frames of film takes patience, understanding, and a little talent and skill never hurt anyone, either.[Read More…]

The Misconception of Perception – Documenting the Gap Between What We See and What Is Real

by Leave a Comment

It began with living in the real world, a place that drives me to perpetual curiosity. Humans are a fascinating study, even for the layman like myself. These subservient minions of biology seem hardwired for utter chaos, and, like receiving an ambulance dispatch to a freshman sorority at 3 a.m. on a Saturday, not even God Himself can predict what you will see next.

Little-known fact: In a previous life (before a wife and kids), I was one of those people they would call out to pick up the drunken pieces after a college bash. But, it wasn’t all fun and games…there were also those times of trying everything in my power to revive a loved one who just died in my hands as their family screamed in anguish around me. But that all seems so long ago…

The cynical phrase, “Nothing is as it seems,” rings especially true. As humans, we naturally perceive what we want to perceive, and, no matter how much we sometimes like to convince ourselves we’re being truly objective or non-judgemental, we are constantly making subconscious judgement calls throughout our daily life. [Read More…]

Daniel Boschung’s Cartogaphy Gives Us an Unsettling Look at the Human Face

by 1 Comment

For those who don’t know, cartography is the making of maps. The word comes from the french terms carte and -graphie, which literally mean map and writing. Daniel Boschung is a face cartographer, and he does exactly what that title suggests: he makes geographic landscapes out of portraits of the human face.

The maximum resolution of a perfect human eye is around 450 pixels per inch (PPI). That means if you’ve got a smartphone, like the iPhone 5S, you probably wouldn’t notice the separate tiny pixels that make up the screen because of its display of 326 PPI. The screen looks almost as sharp as real life. Keeping that in mind, if you were to take a 90 x 90 inch portrait of one of the faces photographed by Daniel Boschung in this project, the final resolution of the picture would amount to somewhere at 111,000 PPI.[Read More…]

Strawberry Splash – Thoughts About High Speed Photography

by Leave a Comment

Gotta love strawberries. And gotta love strawberries in cream even more.

Maybe this is why my taste buds had me coming to this picture again and again.

Then again, it might be the technical details of the shot that drew my attention. Getting a nice splash is hard enough but getting strawberry on spoon splash is nearly impossible. Read on for some musings, thoughts and tips.

[Read More…]

Create Wonderful Worlds Using Soap Bubbles

by Leave a Comment

Mrs. H. should have known better than to push Steve Hermitage (Flickr) into doing the dishes.

What started out as an innocent dish washing exercise ended as a lab for shooting tiny worlds of soap, and revenge taken against a Tia Maria glass.

This is just too good of a project not to share. It is a ton of fun and the setup is very simple as Steve explains in his setup shot (after the jump).

[Read More…]

Playing With Matches – A Burning Tutorial (A Photography Project)

by Leave a Comment

It might be just me, but I love fire. I did a little survey and 5 out of 5 photogs I checked with are little pyros too. Maybe it is part of the requirements of the trade. And maybe we’re all still small kids who get a buzz from a little fire.

This is why I decided to create a small startup guide for shooting matches – feel free to add/comment and improve. The more ideas we throw into this, the better this guide will be.

[Read More…]

A PJ Book Full Of Projects

by Leave a Comment

A PJ book? Are we talking about a new Pajamas book? A rising Photo Journalist?

Our friends over at Photojojo lunched the Photojojo book. It is a book loaded with great projects for the DIY addict.

For a long time now, I’ve been reading the PJ newsletter. It is a great source to get project inspiration and  some great ideas to lay with once you are sitting at home wondering what to do with all those great pictures you took.

[Read More…]

Give ‘Em A Spin – A Fun Family Photography Project

by Leave a Comment

UPDATE: Hey this is fun, however (as some commenters indicated), it may be risky to young joint if you’re spinning to fast. Holding your loved one under the elbow is safer.

This is by far one of the most fun family projects ever featured on DIYP. (Oh yea, I said this on the title).

We all know what kids like best – spinning. The only thing that kids love even more than spinning is sharing the spinning pleasure with a family member spin Dad till he passes out.

Fortunately for us photogs, spinning creates a great panning like effect. But wait how can you spin and take the image, I mean both hands are holding your precious one.

Reader Mr Din has figure out the secret. Learn how to spin and photograph your kid in 5 easy steps.

[Read More…]

Shooting the Team – The Tranquil Boss

by Leave a Comment

When I first thought of making a photography project where I work, I thought it would be a good idea to talk about it with THE BOSS.

THE BOSS was really enthusiastic about the idea and was the first to get his portrait taken.

So, here is the tale of how I shot my boss and lived to tell the tale.

This is the point where I am gonna stop calling him THE BOSS and tell you that his name is Yossi.

Yossi is a very calm dude person. He is one of those guys that when everybody is running around to meet a deadline, makes sure we are running at the right direction. And calmness is the main feature that we wanted to show in Yossi’s portrait.

Another nice thing about Yossi is his car. In a high-tech world where everybody drives nice fancy big Dollar cars, Yossi is true to his love – a bitten up Citroen BX from the early 90’s. When once asked him about tithe told me that “Citroen BX is not a car, it is a way of life”. So, the car had to go into the shot.

Lastly I wanted to say that Yossi is a great boss, loved by all and is an example of fine, sharp management. Always bringing results, and gives true guidance. (And it has nothing to do with the fact that I asked for a raise last month, or the fact that I know that you are reading this blog).[Read More…]

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Recent Posts