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How to make a simple $10 DIY disco prism for Profoto A1

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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.

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Shooting through prisms at home or in the studio

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In this tutorial we will be going over how to create gorgeous in-camera flared effects that can add a lot of depth and interest to a simple portrait image. To do this we will be using a glass prism which can be found on any number of online retail sites. The glass prisms are generally used for school science experiments so they’re readily available and very inexpensive.

25mm x 100mm glass prism on Amazon link here

The prisms are very easy to use out on location as you simply hold them in front of the lens and shoot away. If you’re looking to use them in a studio environment though there are a few key things to bear in mind to maximise the flared effect that creates that signature look.

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How a photographer recreated The Dark Side of the Moon album cover in camera

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No matter if you are a fan of Pink Floyd or not, I’m sure you know the cover of their iconic album The Dark Side of the Moon. After all, as photographers, you are familiar with the phenomenon it depicts.

Young photographer Mason Maxwell turned that phenomenon into a photo that pays a tribute to one of Pink Floyd’s most famous albums. He created a surprisingly accurate replica of the cover, using sunlight, prism and cardboard. It sounds fairly simple, but it was more complicated that you would think. Mason shared some details of taking the shot with us, and it was quite a challenging process.

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Use inexpensive prisms to add some colour and interest to your photography

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Prisms have started to become quite a popular photography accessory in the last couple of years. Their very nature of bending and splitting light makes them ideal for getting creative with your photography. Typically, though, most photographers who’ve adopted a prism as part of their kit, use the same type. Long, triangular prisms, more commonly seen in the science classroom.

But, there are lots of types of prisms, and other glass, crystal & plastic shapes that can do similar things to light. In a new series of short videos from photographer Mathieu Stern, we see how different types affect the shot. How light interacts with them, and what it ultimately means for our images. He’s posted up the first two so far, with a new one expected each day for the next week or so.

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Use a prism, gels, and camera movement for more dramatic portraits with flash

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Getting your flash away from the camera is the obvious way to start moving from snapshots towards portraits, and there are many techniques to add drama to your images with lighting alone.

In this short behind the scenes video from our friends at SLR Lounge, we see three fantastic techniques for pushing those dramatic portraits just a little bit further.

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