DIYPhotography.net -DIY Photography and Studio Lighting

Nasty In Vegas (A Post-PMA Post)

udijw — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:52:32 +0000

Having the opportunity to visit the industry at PMA and CES this year was rad, but what was even radder was the chance to meet and have fun with a few of my personal industry heroes, Zeke of Nice Photo Mag, Matt of Nasty Clamps and James of Orbis. We spent some time talking gear and the industry but having spent too much time confined in the show rooms, Zeke and I need some venting. We took a Nasty Clamp a Canon s100 and an strobe and roamed the strip. Having limited gear, we wanted to see what we can come up with.

What started as a fun (yet cold) evening ended with security kicking us out of the boardwalk for taking professional photographs, but I am getting ahead of myself.

Use a DIY Super Clamp For Shooting in Confined Spaces

udijw — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 17:16:20 +0000

If you ever had to shoot in a confined space you know that getting your light in the place can be challenging .Limited space, cabinets and shelves all join hands in eliminating good lighting placements.

Photographer Allen Mowery put together a DIY Super Clamp that allows mounting your strobe on almost every semi-open door or shelf.

We have featured two similar products before, a DIY Clamp and the Nasty Clamps, each with its own merits. This design uses a controllable pressure clamp which I can see useful when the need to mount larger weights rises.

Here is a video describing the use of the clamp, followed by a link to the DIY guide on Allen's blog.

Your Complete Guide For Photographing Maya In The Year Of Apocalypse

udijw — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:40:52 +0000

Unless you've been hiding under a rock, you've almost certainly heard that the ancient Maya long-count calendar rolls over in December this year. Along with spurring the release of a frenzy of apocalyptic books, this event is also helping spawn renewed tourist interest in Maya ruins. Not to miss out on the opportunity (and free publicity), Mesoamerican communities are hosting a number of special events to celebrate the historic occasion. And governments in what was once the Maya realm have funded a new wave of restoration projects at ruin sites.

So regardless of whether your driving interest is culture or history, art or archaeology, you may well be considering (if not yet planning) a photography trip to the Maya realm. If this is the case for you, please allow me to pass along a few pointers based on my experiences in the area.

Light Painting Is All About Cute Girls Throwing Beads

udijw — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 07:31:34 +0000

If you thought that the physics behind light painting involves photon accumulation, advanced sensor technology and high end buffer management, you have it all wrong.

The truth of the thing, as Destin explains, is that light painting is done by cute girls throwing beads at boxes. OK, it does not, but Destin and daughter (and Wes Whaley) do a terrific job and explaining all this stuff in a fun and super easy to understand way. (Plus you get to see some of the most unique pregnancy photoshoots ever). Hit the jump to see the full video.

Object Of Desire - 10.5mm Lens Cap

udijw — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:27:12 +0000

Having lost his Nikon 10.5mm lens cap, photographer Stu Carlson used the bottom end of a Dr. pepper bottle to cap his lens.

"The lens cap disappeared and I hate to have my lens unprotected. So I cut off the end of a Dr. Pepper bottle to use till I could order the right lens cap for it. Quite by accident I had picked a perfect fit for this lens and since a replacement cap is not cheap and this is and it works and fits so well, I have not bothered to order the replacement cap.

While the bottle seems to provide some nice protection, I doubt that the 10.5mm tastes as good as the original content of the bottle.

Beautifully Hand Crafted Wooden Time Lapse Dolly

udijw — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 10:50:15 +0000

Wood worker Brian Grabski and photographer Josh Van Patter collaborated both photographic know-how and superb craftsmanship to create this beautiful piece of work. They then used it to shoot Fade around Lake Powell.

China, Photography, Innovation And Us

udijw — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 21:48:09 +0000

A few days ago Jaron Schneider posted an interesting piece over at F stoppers projecting a pretty poor future for the American lighting industry. It's a very interesting read and I encourage you to head over and check it out.

I am not going to repeat the entire post here, but his main point is that the industry has cut costs by moving manufacturing over to China. After moving manufacturing, the industry then moved the engineering overseas. In the end of this process, China no longer needs American brands to produce good lighting gear, and American lighting companies have found themselves fighting their own creations. Jaron ends the post with the sad prediction that “there is no way out of this cycle of depression for most US companies."

Speaking as a small manufacturer , I think that while the points that Jaron raises are valid, they are only a small part of a bigger picture that’s not completely without hope. Here are some of the more encouraging points that come to mind.

[video] Build A Super Long TTL Cord Using Ethernet Cables

udijw — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:06:52 +0000

A while back we posted a guide that shows how to build a TTL cord extender using Cat 5e Ethernet cables and plugs.

YouTube member Matthewrichey made a short video describing the process which is worth checking out.

If you are more proficient with a credit card than a cable RJ45 plug crimper you can get a pretty long (10m) TTL cord for about $36 at your friendly online book store.

If any of you folks out there had a try, I would love to hear how long you got your cable before commands to the strobe stopped working.

Lastly, if you wondered why you would need a long TTL cord, check out Syl Areana's super smart way of using a Canon TTL master strobe inside a softbox to control other Canon strobes OR David Hobby's Strobe on a Rope self-assist way of off camera flashing.

[How to make a adjustable flash sync cord with cat5 cable via cheesycam]

Shooting The Three Ladies

udijw — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 13:15:35 +0000

It is not often that I see a picture and get my eye wet with nostalgia. However this one from David Sittig hit a soft spot for me (click here for lightbox view). Having a Kiev 88, a Seagull 4A and a Minolta SRT 101 in the same shot should be good enough on any given day, but David made the extra step of making it a TTV (Through The Viewfinder) photograph featuring the Minolta and Seagull in the Kiev's viewfinder.(Final image, just in case you care for this kind of thing, was taken with a D90)

I asked David to share the process of taking this image with DIYP readers and much to my delight he said yes:

DIY: Make a Fashion-Passion Camera Wristlet

udijw — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 19:00:44 +0000

Elizabeth Giorgi of Being Geek Chic (God, I love this name) shares a great little tutorial that shows you how to make a fashionable camera wrist strap. The kind that is kinda like lanyard that keep cameras from finding their way to the cement pavement.

The stitching job is really easy and if you ever wanted to get into sewing (come'on I know you do) this is a great starters project, that will ease you in to the world of doubles, zig-zags and overlocks. (And you win a wonderful strap in the process). Hit the jump for a full movie tutorial.

Quicky: Fun & Easy Macro Filter With PVC and Magnifying Glass

udijw — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:00:08 +0000

For about three years I used a Nikon Coolpix and enjoyed taking photos of snowflakes in the winter. I struggled with the autofocus, so I figured I would invest in a digital camera with manual focus and macro. After much time and web surfing, I found the Canon SX130IS which has very good reviews, manual focus, and a reasonable price.

Measuring Camera Speed Performance With A Microphone

udijw — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:14:14 +0000

Memory cards have their speed rating systems. For example, class 6 is the recommended base class for 1080p HD video coming from DSLRs. Those classes however, don't tell you what is the burst rate on individual shots. Mostly because each image has a different MB size to it depending on many factors.

Jaroslav over at Crazy Lab found an interesting way of measuring the burst rate and comparing different factors that affect the camera to card writing speed. TO make the test constant he covered the lens of his Canon T3i and took pictures of darkness. By recording the shutter sound (or music as some call it) and displaying the waveform in Audacity Jaroslav was able to compare burst-rates of different ISOs, capturing modes and cards.

Overkill: Use an Old Pacemaker To Control Delay In A Drop Shot

udijw — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:21:39 +0000

I've seen some crazy setups for high speed photography utilizing all sorts of weird parts. There is even a system that will turn the lights off for you, if you so please. But, this is the first time I am seeing such a huge overkill in term of components used to gain some control over the circuit.

Super High Speed Footage Of A 60D Exposure Cycle

udijw — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 07:12:06 +0000

Our buddy Destin from Smarter Every Day is about to have a new baby, but seconds before rushing to the hospital, he shares a neat slo-mo (or high-speed, depending on your take) video of a Canon 60D shutter going through the a full exposure cycle.

You can see the four stages of the exposure:

The mirror flips
The first curtain goes down to expose the sensor
Second curtain covers the sensor to end the exposure
And finally the mirror jumps back up

Now, here is a question for extra credit, can you calculate the exposure time?

If you are like me and like this kind of random science, you can register to Smarter Every Day Youtube channel here.

Congrats Destin for your new baby!

Using A Double Flash Bracket To Add Modeling light To Your Setup

udijw — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 10:14:17 +0000

One of the downsides of using a small strobe is that you don't get the nice modeling light like the big studio guns.

That means that you have to pre-visualize your light. If you are new to strobes this may not be trivial even on a bare strobe, but throw some modifiers in (e.g. a softbox or an umbrella) and it get even harder. This is why a modeling light is can be your best friend as you make your first steps into the modifiers world. In this tutorial I will explain how you can add a modeling light to a strobe using a DIY Double Flash Bracket, but any double flash bracket will do.

The Awesome Stuff @ PMA (per me)

udijw — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 09:25:17 +0000

About two days ago I returned from PMA. Aside from the big camera announcements going on the main CES showrooms (the Nikon D4, the Canon G1 X and the Fujifilm X-Pro1) there were a lot of innovation and coolness going on the smaller booths and the PMA venue.

Actually, for me as a photographer/blogger/inventor some of the stuff that was displayed on the smaller booths was more interesting than (I said you could touch it not grab it) touching new camera models.

The really nice thing about it, is the most often than not, the inventor would stand in their booth in a way that allows direct interaction. The kind of stuff you can't get on emails. So you get to ask questions, make suggestions and get instant feedback. nice.

Here is a small round up of the stuff that I found cool on PMA/CES, some of it is new, some has been around for a while. Feel free to add more coolness if you've seen it.

DIY: Small Circular Softboxes

udijw — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 19:18:32 +0000

Photographer and design student Hunter Frerich came up with this really cool DIY for building a small circular soft box. It kinda resembles one of the first projects on DIYP (which is the one that actually pushed me to start the site) but is waaaaay nicer and probably gives way better light. It kinda resembles the Honl Traveller8, but exchanges the high $$ for sewing skills.

Say Hi @PMA

udijw — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 08:49:09 +0000

Every now and then the photography industry get together and see whats lined up for the next few months/years.

Actually, one of those events is going on right now at Vegas, the PMA@CES. It is pretty impressive to see big guns like Canon and Nikon show off their stuff, but to me it is way more interesting to see what's some of the smaller companies are doing, and looking at the innovation that is going on at the fringe.

It is even cooler to get to hang out and exchange ideas, gear thoughts and photography love with photographers and innovators from across the world. (it is actually one of the nicer things on the blog too).

If you are at PMA (or the bigger CES) and want to get it touch I would be honored. Please send me a mail or DM me on Twitter to get in touch.

I will try to moderate comments at least once a day, please be patient with me.

Preparing for Desert Photography Travel

udijw — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 15:55:04 +0000

One environment that I never tire of photographing is the deserts of the southwest United States. While the desert may look drab and gray during daylight hours during the golden and blue hour the desert transforms into a colorful and often surreal landscape. Mix in a little bad weather and you can capture some amazing landscape photos. Since the desert is an extreme environment I prepare for my shoots there with more scrutiny. Over the years my approach to desert photography preparations have bled into my general landscape photo shoot prep.

Here are 10 tips to prepare for your next adventure in the desert including 4 very important steps to ensure your safety:

Create An Impact Safe Bouncy Camera Using Sugru

udijw — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 14:57:17 +0000

A while back I bought my daughter a Vtech Kidizoom, trying to hook her up on photography. Looking back at the experience, I can say that she is doing pretty well.

On the bright side, she enjoys taking pictures and does a darn fine job too. Of course, being able to come down to daddy's studio with flashes set up does not hurt her fun one bit.

On the "dark" side, the image quality sucks! We thought we could handle it and that the grainy look would be "fun" and "Lomo"y, but even she is a bit annoyed with the noise of the photographs when viewed large.

I came across this video that shows how you can impact-proof a camera using moldable plastic called Sugru. It's kinda like plasticine, only it hardens as rubber, and can take quite an impact. Not sure why they used an ancient Sony Cybershot for the video, but even that old camera will get better results than your standard "kids" cam.

How To Make A Snoot From A Coca-Cola Bottle

udijw — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 07:06:55 +0000

I guess that snoots are one of those things that you can make out of almost any substance. As a kid, I used to listed to Dennis Leary and he had a similar notion on bongs (you can listed to this very NSFW, rude and strong languaged track here).

Of course being the shy and straighter than ruler guy that I am I would not even know a bong if I saw one, but I would recognize a good snoot idea.

If you're asking, "a snoot, what is it good for"? check out Strobist's Ultra-Hard Light post.

Your Top 5 Picks Of 2011

udijw — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 21:48:58 +0000

2011 was a great year. It is always interesting to look back and see what were the favorite posts of the year. Both for learning what DIYP readers like, but also to catch some great posts if you've missed them during the year.

I bet there are a million ways to do this, from checking which post got the most likes or asking some social media tool. I kept it simple and just got the top 2011 most read posts from Analytics.

In reverse order, here are the top 5 tutorials of 2011:

Using A Seat Belt Pad As A Wind Blocking Deadcat

udijw — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 14:52:17 +0000

Chad Bredahl just sent in this smart tip about using a seat belt pad as a deadcat. (Deadcats protect microphones from wind, so if you are shooting video outdoors, it kills a lot of the wind noise).

Deadcats are not that expensive to begin with, but I guess auto part shops are easier to find if you are on a hurry and need a quick solution.

If you think this is crap, skip to 2:10 to see/hear the effect of the pad on wind noise, I was surprised on how nicely it works.

Thanks for the tip, Chad.

How To Build A Flash (With An Optical Slave)

udijw — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 20:04:39 +0000

Usually where danger is involved we simply say something like "please know what you're doing" or "If you need to ask how this is done, this is not for you", but for this particular piece, I thought a bigger warning should be in place. And I darn well mean it.

WARNING: This article involves dealing with High Voltage, up to 300v, which is stored in big capacitors. THIS VOLTAGE CAN KILL YOU. Never touch any of the components and always discharge the capacitor before working on it. Always keep in a well insulated project enclosure.

BY FOLLOWING THESE INSTRUCTIONS YOU AGREE TO BE THE ONLY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE THAT MIGHT BE CAUSED BY DOING SO. WORK CAREFULLY AND FOLLOW WARNINGS.

If you think this warning was not bold, big or strong enough, please read it again. (I do realize this may end up in a loop for folks who think this is as easy as a learn how to solder project. That's the point)

This article will help you understand the basics of how a flash circuit is working, and the second part will show you how to build your own optical triggered portable flash rated at 50 watt/seconds!

Using Household Lights For Cinematic Lighting

udijw — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 21:20:19 +0000

A few days back we posted a video by The Underwater Realm that shows how to build and use an air cannon to create a false explosion.

It turns out that that though the folks at Realms are super busy making an Indie film, they manage to find the time to tip the indie film community (and photographers in general) with some awesome tips (see their undestructible LED strip for example).

This time around Eve Hazelton shares a great tutorial on how to use household lights to create some awesome lighting either for the big screen or for stills.