DIYPhotography.net -DIY Photography and Studio Lighting

Strawberry Splash - Thoughts About High Speed Photography

udijw — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:40:22 +0000

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.

Light Painting - Creating The Orb

udijw — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:54:00 +0000

The following article is a guest post by Dana Maltby a.k.a. Twin Cities Brightest a.k.a { tcb } an addict to Light Painting.

In the last Light painting installation we saw the huge variety of tools and toys I use for creating Light Painting Art.

One of the things that came strong in the comments was the need to bind those tools to the actual process of taking the image. Well, now I am going to do just this.

So let's talk about the hottest and most natural object to paint with light, the orb. Also known as a sphere. The good news is that orbs can be made with light quite easily.

Photography: Real Fire Rocks / Photoshop Fire Sucks

udijw — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:21:51 +0000

How did I manage not to burn the house down??

Well, first, my wife was not at home, LOL... and second, with the remote trigger in one hand, and an extinguisher in the other... just in case!! ;O))

This is what Filipe Batista had to say when I wondered how he took that shot. The extinguisher bit is enough to hint that no Photoshop was used to create the fire and as they say it the magic industry. Don't worry, that fire is harmless. Unless you touch it.

Filipe was kind enough to share the secretes behind this fire spectacle with DIYP readers:

Some Great Stuff From Around The Web

udijw — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:43:34 +0000

There are some great things going on around the web lately, and I really wanted to share them around. Either because they are really cool, or because (please ignore violin in background) I think they make this place a bit better, or just because they are lots of fun.

Light Painting - Tools Of The Trade

udijw — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:24:56 +0000

The following article is a guest post by Dana Maltby a.k.a. Twin Cities Brightest a.k.a { tcb } an addict to Light Painting.

Now that you know the basics of light painting let's move on to creating the effects you want.

If you have a certain idea about a lighting effect you want, chances are you can make it happen. Some ideas are cheap and inexpensive while others can be costly and time consuming. Every project is a great learning experience, and the results seen in the photos later on will keep you on your toes and inspired constantly.

In the following post I will present the tools of the trade that I use to create my light painting art. If you know of other light painting tools and tricks, please add them in the comments.

For each of the images below a different tool was used as the main tool. Some of the images were done using several tools, in that case I mentioned the tool which has the main effect.

Five Poorman's Lighting Mods When Pro Lighting Gear Is Just Too Expensive

udijw — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 08:13:18 +0000

In this post you will find a collection of really (and I mean really) cheap alternatives to pro lighting.

Will you get the same crisp results that you get with pro gear? Probably just an approximation. On the other hand none of those mods cost more than a nickel and a dime, so it is well worth the try.

Portrait Photography In The Eyes Of 5 Years Olds

udijw — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 21:24:28 +0000

I had the honor and the pleasure to give a talk at my daughter's kindergarten on Friday. We recently moved to a new place and once the kindergarten teacher heard I was a photographer, she asked me to come down and talk a bit with the kids about what I do.

Of course I said yes. I also offered to take some portraits of the kids and stuff - just for funzees. I asked the teacher to tell the kids to bring a favorite toy or set of clothes. It was amazing to hear what 5 year-olds think about photography and I am going to share some of this discussion here.

Create Wonderful Worlds Using Soap Bubbles

udijw — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:07:27 +0000

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).

Don't Give Up On Your GI Trigger - Three Ways To Revive It When It Looks Dead

udijw — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 08:27:47 +0000

So you hacked yourself a gadget infinity flash radio slave and you are happy. You are shooting off camera flash and things work splendid. Actually, you really wanted a pair of pocketwizards, but it was 26 big ones Vs. 360, so it's GI. Actually they work quite well. They worked quite well for a long while now. Then a crisis. Flash wont fire.

Camera clicks, but flash won't fire. Darn! It was working just a second ago. What could have gone wrong? (Or in the words that the guys from the internet service hear 1000 times a day - I did not touch it.)

Here are three things to check before giving up on your cactus remotes.

Using Plexi As A Photography Tool

udijw — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 14:05:44 +0000

I'm gonna talk about Plexi in a moment, but first, Happy Halloween everyone.

OK, Plexi.

It is very common for a product shot to be built from two symmetrical halves, the product on top and a reflection on the bottom.

I tried taking shoe images like this using a mirror and some glass, but with both I got two reflection - one from the upper surface of the glass and one from the lower surface on the glass. I then tried using durable nylon to get the same effect which was nice, however the reflection image was not sharp.

Then. Came. Plexi.

Just Before Going To New Zealand

udijw — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 07:18:26 +0000

Chase Jarvis is a photographer I really love following. Heck, if he ever counted his mentions on this blog, he'd probably call the stalking police.

Chase's latest installment is a cool video about his latest ~~joy trip~~ assignment to New Zealand where he shot a campaign for Sandisk.

A small treasure of goodies came out from that ride (check here for videos, BTSs, Gear talk and more), but in this post, I'd like to focus on the last video. The one where Chase shoots a rapid-hell-fire-8-FPS-strobed-ski sequences.

Ok, I'm gonna take my chances and try not to sound like a third grade
teacher when I'll say - This video is not about gear, it's not about
technique it's about homework. More after the jump

Light Painting Primer

udijw — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 22:01:29 +0000

The following article is a guest post by Dana Maltby a.k.a. Twin Cities Brightest a.k.a { tcb } an addict to Light Painting.

In a series of posts Dana will cover various aspects of light painting: camera settings; tools of the trade; tip and tricks and "walk through"s for several light painting images.

Band Your Cables for Orderly Photography Travel

udijw — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 17:40:51 +0000

This is a quick photo-travel tip by DIYP reader Don Simpson. Actually it may be really obvious, but I learned that it is better to show the obvious than to assume that everyone already knows it. Actually, it is also a more general travel tip that applies to more than carrying photography gear.

Don't you hate it how your cables fly about in your bag, and when you are trying to pull out the batteries charger cable you also fish the USB cable, the pc-sync cable, the super long TTL cord, the power cord, the strip, and a bunch of other cable you did not even know you have?

CloudPlug - Backup Solution Review

udijw — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 19:34:53 +0000

As you may recall my computer kinda crushed on me last year. I've been looking for a backup solution ever since (in the meantime, there is not a single component in my computer that was not replaced, excluding the motherboard).

I found that the CloudPlug answers most of my needs, and decided to review it here on DIYP.

If you're just here for the coupon, jump to the end. If you want to share your backup strategy, let us know on the comments.

SB800 Internals

udijw — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 21:52:22 +0000

As you may know, I am involved with a secret project. For this secret project I needed dots, plenty of dots.

My first thought was to punch some holes in a black Bristol and cover the flash up. Then (I naively thought) I'd get a nice projection of spots on the adjacent wall. Right? Wrong!

Twit Twit - I'm Jumping In

udijw — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 20:27:45 +0000

I am starting to Tweet. I simply could not resist all the goodness that's being spread out there and not be part of the fun. Besides, it is really easier to use short URLs.

If you're wondering what's gonna be on my twitter, Here is my twiterfesto:

I will not be wasting your time.

I will tweet about great posts out there, mostly photo hacking, but also other hacks which I feel are nice, but not fully fitted in DIYP blog

I will tweet with heads up and content promo before stuff hits the main blog.

I will tweet with various promotions that I'm being offered to extend to DIYP readers when they are not 100% blog material.

I will be opening another channel to communicate with DIYP readers, and be open to feedback, suggestions and general "lets hang out"s.

I will also make small updates on general things, I do promise not to tweet about the balloon kid even once.

I will share the occasional photo via twitpic. Where you can follow my shots in addition to my Flickr stream.

So if you wanna ~~hear a lame pan~~ hear my twits, follow me @diyphotography

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BMK - A Mystery Project (I Can Tell You, But Then I'll Have To Kill You)

udijw — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 20:43:49 +0000

Over the past year I've been involved with a great project - it is about to launch soon. If you are a regular reader here, you may recognize the effect.

We're gonna launch in about two weeks, so stay tuned. Meanwhile, here are some sample shot that may (or may not) be related to this awesomeness.

Sorry for exposing those. I had no choice. They have my kids.

Hit the jump for some images. Stay tuned. More to come...

Visit this set for more bokeh secret images. Tag a Paw to send your love.

Creating A Blur Effect With The Whatever's Around Filter

udijw — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 21:52:13 +0000

Look at the picture on the left from Gilad Ben Ari. Click on it to really see it larger.

Something just does not add up. There's a noticeable blur on the red in the bottom half of the image. I asked. It is not photoshopped. I'll say it again. NOT PHOTOSHOPPED.

Take it as an exercise; try to think what makes the blur before reading on.

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

udijw — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 21:39:56 +0000

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.

3 Cool Photography Halloween Hacks

udijw — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 15:12:49 +0000

Yea I know, Halloween is almost a month away, but if you're gonna do something fancy, you'd better start preparing.

Here are three completely safe Halloween photography Hacks.

Between making your own pumpkin, cutting a hole in your body and bringing a full Paparazzi band to the party there is no way you'll get tricked. But, you have to start preparing.

Walmart Approach To Lighting

udijw — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 20:58:52 +0000

I love it when a bunch of DIYed hacks make into a compete lighting solution. We've had our share of Walmart hacks, PVC pipes, Clamplights and fluorescents all came into use one way or another. Nick Koch brings it all together in a home made video.

Also don't be alarmed if you see cloth hangers, car shades and (a personal fav) some Velcro. Movie right after the jump. (Volume is a bit bouncy, but definitely worth the watch, even on mute).

46% Of DIYP Readers Love Strobes, Another 30% Go Natural

udijw — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 21:12:33 +0000

As part of the ongoing Studio @ Home series, I asked DIYP readers, what is your favorite photographic light.

By that question I meant what is the light source you love most when you are taking pictures. Strobists you can cheer, but it was a close match. Again, thanks for all who voted and commented, it helps us learn about the trends, and makes a great community feeling.

Results and some thought after the jump.

Take Long Distance Self Portraits With PocketWizards

udijw — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 19:34:11 +0000

This self portrait on the left by Reuben Krabbe was taken (believe it or not) by Reuben Krabbe. Now, I know that you know that time/space fabric will tear if a person is present at two different places in the same time.

So, once we remove the impossible option we remain with the possible option - Pocket Wizards.

Create Stunning Stars In Your Eyes With a DIY Ring Light

udijw — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 18:08:07 +0000

Until today there was only one way I knew of to put starts in my eyes - to get a hefty blow to the jaw from the guy you just shot candid.

Until today, that is. Until I saw Laya Gerlock's amazing Stars Ring Light. Fortunately for us DIYers, when Laya heard what we need to get through to see stars, he agreed to share the making of this beautiful modifier.

The Toilet Gridspot

udijw — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 15:46:46 +0000

While I've done some considerable efforts to disconnect the Gordian knot between bodily functions and lighting, my efforts are futile once and again.

Visit Tony's excellent picture tutorial for the quickest toilet gridspot ever.

Click image for larger version on flickr

Of course, you can always make your snoot in a more conventional way - with a cooling grid or coroplast (or heavens forbid, buy one).

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