DIYPhotography.net

A long while back I got familiar with Stick In a Can method for light positioning through the (sadly retired) Pro Photo Life Blog by Jim Talkington. In this post, I'll show how to make one of those and what are some great uses for them.

A stick in a can is the poorman's solution for positioning lights in three dimensional space. Basically it combines a stick, which provides some height and a cement filled can which provides anchoring weight. It works great for positioning worklights, reflectors and just about anything you can clamp.

The Caterpillar above was shot using one of those stick in a can and some magic. (more on the magic in a future post). Read more ›

In this post, Kevin A Crider will show you how to make a DIY Hard Camera Case the size of a suitcase. And yes, you can get a pro, feature rich version for $800, but if you walk to the closest garage sale, you can make a camera hard case for $5 and the price of the foam.

All this project requires is a suitcase that opens in the middle and a sheet of foam. You may use any suit case, but the ones that open in the middle allows us to store equipment on both sides. Read more ›

If you were wondering who is that weird guy behind DIYPHotography, you can grab a hot chocolate and head over to PetaPixel where Michael Zhang gave me quite an extensive interview. Extra! Extra! read all about it. + You get the bonus of enjoying my unedited superb English)

And the obligatory link. Read more ›

If you are into time lapse you must have checked the option of getting an Intervalometer. as you can see from the Canon and Nikon links an Intervalometer is not cheap. Not really expensive either, but definitely not cheap. So As usual I ask: what can you DIY about it?

Some cameras already have the time lapse feature built in, and Canon photographers can turn to CHDK for adding a time lapse feature. But there is a third, cooler version if you are into electronics (which I know lots of site readers are not afraid of).

Achim Sack - a super electronics engineer - has a project for building an intervalometer the size of a finger nail. It needs no power and learns the interval between shots as you go. If you are into embedded programming, this is a project for you, if not, "move along nothing to see..." [Image credit: tonyVC] Read more ›

I am very excited to introduce the following guest post on Aerial Photography Introduction by Eric - crashing is not an option - Austin.

Yea, it is that dude that rigged a Canon 7D to a custom RC Heli whom we interviewd a little while ago.

What is aerial photography?

Aerial photography originated over 100 years ago, soon after man first took flight. It is the method in which pictures or video are captured from a perspective not seen at ground level. From satellites high above the earth to an RC plane or helicopter, aerial photography can be an awesome DIY project! Read more ›

I know the iPhone cannot stand in for the Scarlet or Epic cameras, it will probably not even use the full power of your SLR lenses. However more and more hobbyists are using the iPhone at the always around camera (kinda similar to what happen to smart phone still cameras).

That said, it is no surprise that amateur photographer push the iPhone camera to its limits, or just find ways to add "pro" gizmos to the very low grade cam. After the video camera 2c iPhone dolly, more mods are popping up. This next mod by Spencer S. Watson based in Portland, is a great one if you wanna shoot smooth videos with your iPhone. It is an iPhone Steadicam (we covered a few of those here).

Read more ›

In this post I will run through a quick tutorial on how to shoot HD video on any non-video recording Canon SLR, such as the canon 40D, Canon 450D or any other Canon camera that features LiveView. Read more ›

I am not surprised to see the DIY community responds to David's Hobby last post about the Lastolite Triflash. Reader Allen Mowery came up with a quick and easy way to build a dual flash bracket with a DIY umbrella.

Made from a T-brace and a 1/2" plastic pipe (+ some odds and ends), Allen presents the Dual Bracket Swivel Mount. The "genius involved" is debatable to quote the tutorial, however for about $8 (umbrella excluded) this is quite a find. (I am not really sure about the DIYing of the umbrella, in this case. folding and unfolding it seems a bit risky with cheapo paint).

It does not carry a trysync hotshoe as the tryflash, but is still a great way to double your flash power (and save some on a swivel).

Read the full tutorial from Allen on DIYP's flickr group.

Read about other dual brackets here. Read more ›

I started toying around with insect macro photography about 18 months ago. And to be honest, those first few months produced some amazingly bad photographs. But as scientists say, there is no such thing as a failed experiment - as long as it yields data. Well, I've managed to amass quite a lot of "data". And I am grateful that I am able to share some of that knowledge with the DIY community.

As bad as they were, those first few macro shots opened my eyes to the amazing detail and intricacies that lay just beyond the capabilities of our vision. Watching the insects move through the viewfinder was - and still is - a fascinating experience. So, from my earliest attempts, I decided I was going to only shoot live insects. Read more ›

Photographer and Engineer Bhautik Joshi came up with a nifty way to attach a real SLR lens to camera phones. and when I say attach, I mean optically, not just wrapping both in tons of gaffers tape.

Using not much more than old CD lenses, cardboard and some sticky putty, Bhautik was able to construct a mechanism. Now, we had a project on the site before where we combined a DVD lens with an iPhone to create a super macro cameraphone, but Bhautik takes it to the next step. Read more ›