Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time
Neutral density filter reduces the amount of light going into the lens, so you can take long exposures even when the light is bright.
Long exposures blur anything moving, like water, clouds, or people. This can be very useful for making choppy water look smooth, making clouds streak, or getting rid of people at a tourist attraction.
These types of filters usually cost up to $200 (especially on big diameter lenses), but with this simple hack, you can make it for only $5.[Read More…]
Recently I treated myself to the Manfrotto 131DDB Double Head Support (USA) / (AUS) which allows me to mount both my camera and a laptop on the same tripod, for when I’m shooting tethered.
Now all I needed was a platform for my notebook; but all I could find available were platforms for laptops. Too big for what I needed and I also wanted something a little more secure so that my notebook would not be easily knocked over.[Read More…]
If you’ve been following the blog for a while you know that there are some neat iPad/iPhone apps that create spatial drawings, like Holographium or Aurora Bulb for Android.
Wulfrano Moreno shares on how he achieved a similar project using Peggy, an Arduino-based LED PegBoard.
Taking the photograph above required a combination of several skills: A bit of electricity engineering, some open source enthusiasm and a bit of light painting know how.
This image evolved as I started experimenting with light painting. At first I started creating some shots using the typical DIY “orb tool”. As I got more drawn to the subject I came across an amazing video of some guys light-painting using an iPad.[Read More…]
One of the good things about on-camera flash is that it travels with you. Sure, this on axis light gives a really terrible flat light and red eyes, but it is always with you. you’d most likely get better, more directional light from an off camera flash, but setting this up takes time and space, which You don’t always have.
This is why they invented the flash brackets, and why Jerry Hamby made a PVC version of it. A flash bracket is a contraption that attaches to the camera and creates some distance between the flash and the lens. (Bye, bye red eyes).
When your flash is on a bracket you would need to trigger it and you can do so with a sync cable, a TTL cable or (if your flash supports it) trigger it wirelessly. And before the comments start poring about this, we know that the lens cap is on, this is just for illustration)[Read More…]
If having a C-Loop (or the C-Loop DIY version) is not great by itself (which we think it is) you can make it even greater by complementing it with a Glide Strap. When you use a Glide Strap (or any of the other gliding systems) you can quickly move from carrying position to shooting position.
You can do this because gliding mechanism allows the camera to slide without the need for the strap to move.
Yes, you guessed it, Cameron Texter made his own DIY glide strap, and he’ll share his contraption after the jump.[Read More…]
Here is a project perfect for father’s day.
I know how everybody loves a good duct tape wallet. But come on… We are photographers. Duct tape? Not in this class. We use the real thing – Gaffers Tape. And we use it wisely – to child-proof light stands, to make them invisible and to make lighting modifiers.
It would only make sense that a present for the one who raised you so well would be made from original photographic Gaffers tape.
An Amamorfic Camera provides a clever method of using the 35mm film to capture non standard aspect ratio photographs.
The short version is that the pinhole on that camera is not perpendicular to the film for the long version [OpenGeekWindow] You know this problem all to well from digital point and shoots. The aspect ratio on a regular point&shoot is 3:4 and the standard for printing pictures is 2:3, so you have to ask your printer (hey, anyone here still prints?) to leave white stripes at the edges of the picture.[Read More…]
I know you love continuous light ring lights, both for stills and video, however, one of the most common responses is that it is too complex to build and the need for woodmanship.
Well, aside from providing paper furniture and raw beauty dishes, IKEA seems to have solved the ring light issues as well. With the (sadly discontinued) Kvartil Chandelier. Sadly IKEA, not realizing the product potential for photographers, has discontinued the product. The concept however is too good not to be featured in the hopes that IKEA or some other chandelier manufacturer will make it right.
If you got more photography IKEA hacks I would love to hear them, share in the comments.[Read More…]
I do some real estate photography that requires indoor panoramas. Those are kinda hard to take because the small space and proximity of objects really makes any parallax errors show significant distortion on the final picture.
First I bought the Panosaurus (which was HUGE and a bit cumbersome as it support any camera) but it does work. This got me thinking: do I really need a panoramic head that can support any camera at all, or do I just need to support my Lumix GH1 and 9-18mm lens.
After making a few brackets, I decided that this one is going to be focused on ease of manufacturing. [Read More…]
We featured a few beauty dishes before, one made from a turkey pan, and one made from soup bowls. (Even when it seems like DIY, it is actually about food).
With a recent mention about the connection between DIYP and IKEA, I thought that it would be fun to feature a beauty dish made with the very appropriate named IKEA FOTO.
It is a simple build, the smarts here are in the bracket that takes the load of the strobe head and allows for easy mounting on a lightstand or a boom.[Read More…]
You can find out more about John on his website and follow his adventures on YouTube and Facebook.
can change a lens mid-rappel, swap a memory card while treading water, or use a camel as a light stand.
To see more of his work please visit his studio website blurMEDIAphotography, or follow him on Twitter, 500px, Google Plus or YouTube.
JP’s photography is available for licensing at Stocksy United.
Find my work on My website or follow me on Facebook or My page
