Are you a keen DIY hand? This do-it-yourself pinhole camera is the brainchild of Kelly Angood. This is her third project involving pinhole cameras, and it's something that she's had great success with in the past.
Mounting a monitor on your DSLR usually means using an articulating ball mount, which is fiddly and impossible to adjust with one hand. Caleb Pike shows how to build a freely adjustable mount using GoPro parts in this 5 minute video.
London-based photographer Paul Kohlhaussen has a wish list of cameras he'd love to shoot with, but he can't afford them. So, he did something rather unusual: he decided to combine some of their notable features into a custom camera that he 3D printed himself.
In this creative 2-minute tutorial, Ukranian photographer Anya Anti demonstrates how to make an interesting bokeh effect using shapes cut out of a paper backdrop.
The idea of cleaning the sensor on your camera is a frightening prospect for many photographers, but it needn’t be. This 2-minute video will show you how to shake that fear and banish dust, dirt, and oil from your sensor’s filter glass for good.
Ring lights are a great piece of kit for illuminating your subject evenly and creating a distinctive catch light in the eyes. Unfortunately, these lights are typically expensive, but this short tutorial by Instructables user gravityisweak will show you how to building your own for next to nothing.
In this 8-minute video by Macroscope Pictures, learn how to build a color changing wand light with your own two hands for only $30 in materials. For an extra 15 bucks, you can add a Wi-Fi controller and control the finished product with your phone.
Need something fun to build this weekend? This step-by-step tutorial will show you how to turn an old bicycle wheel and some fabric into a simple DIY softbox that you can use for photography or, just as a cool studio accent light.
I recently found myself with a spine injury, which proved to kinda be a big road block to my photography. My photo projects usually involved lots of driving and walking, two things that proved to be extremely painful due to my crappy health. One day, sitting around bored, I decided to create a camera that was as immobile as I was. Armed with a rough sketch, and a misguided sense of self-confidence, I built a 20x24 camera over a weekend.
I needed a monitor hood for quite some time but wasn't willing to pay the retail prices charged for them, so I decided to build one myself. In this tutorial I'll show you how to build your own DIY monitor hood for less than $12.
We've seen a lot of creative setups for faking that 'bullet time' look—one guy strapped his GoPro to a ceiling fan—but this creation filmmaker Luca Amhofer is the most versatile and functional DIY rig of its kind we've ever seen... and it's dirt cheap to make!
Are you stressed? What better way to de-stress is there than to break things while making cool photographs at the same time? You can break anything, from spaghetti to fancy glassware, there is no limit. It will take you about half an hour to build the Arduino circuit and write the code for this sound triggering photographic system.
I recently needed a way to trigger a flash from an Electron app, but there wasn't anything out there that suited my needs... so I built my own.
Want an unusual digital camera that you can put together yourself? Check out CROZ, a do-it-yourself camera that features a transparent case that allows you to see all the internal components.
Plenty of photographers these days try their hands at making their own cameras, but Swedish photographer, inventor, and camera maker Mats Wernersson recently did something a little more unusual: he made his own 90mm f/2.8 lens from scratch.
Here's a fun little experiment to try one night this week. Take that box of crackers (biscuits if you're formal), polish off the last few hangers-on, and then use that box to create some interesting DIY lighting effects with your off-camera flash.
This short DIY tutorial by Caleb Pike over at DSLR Video Shooter shows you how to create a great smoke effect for your product shots or B-roll footage—no fancy smoke machine required.
I finally did it! After sitting in my fridge for a few months, I managed to developed myself a roll of CineStill 800 pushed to 3200 ISO, and the results look great! The great thing: it's actually pretty easy to develop pushed C-41 film at home.
If you have a film or digital camera that can shoot double exposures, there's a free do-it-yourself accessory you can use to get creative with the technique: it's the half lens cap.
My name is Richard Evans, and I recently built myself a 4x5 camera. Here's a look at the camera and what I did.
A couple of weekends ago I was playing about with some ideas for a new portfolio shot involving a wall clock. Now, this clock happens to look a bit like a pocket watch, and a pocket watch normally has a chain (see where I'm going with this?). So I figured: "what if instead of a chain, I use some wispy light trails?"
Ever since the advent of digital cameras, some film photographers have dreamed of having a way to convert their beloved film cameras into digital ones. Photographer Robin Guymer took matters into his own hands: using his knowledge of electronics, he converted a Sony NEX-3 mirrorless camera into a digital back for his film Nikon FE SLR camera.
Lensbaby's creative selective focus lenses like the Composer Pro will run you around $400; even the relatively affordable Spark costs $90. If all of that sounds too expensive for your taste, you should definitely check out this hacked version Mathieu Stern created for just 30 bucks!
There are a ton of options out there for building your own product photography lightbox, but this is one of the simplest and most functional creations we've seen. For under $50, you can build it for yourself.
If you do a lot of basic product photography, you might want to check out this video. In it, you'll learn how to build and operate your own 360° product photography turntable, and it'll only cost you about 15 or 20 bucks.
If you enjoy seeing experimental photo projects and unique homemade cameras, check out this "Straw Camera." It was created by filling a wooden box with 32,000 drinking straws for light to pass through.
Need a home studio for some product photography? COOPH has some great ideas for you. In this inspirational little video, the magazine shows you how to build a DIY photography studio at home using mostly household items.
Did you know you can transfer the image on a Polaroid instant print onto paper? It's called an "emulsion lift," and this video tutorial by photographer Matt Day shows you exactly how to go about doing it.
Last fall, in preparation for a fair for my wedding photography business in Helsinki, I wanted to create something out-of-the-ordinary that would attract attention to my booth. A friend of mine suggested a type of vintage camera that visitors could look through.
Vintage camera with a mini slideshow inside? Sounds like a plan!
Photographer Mathieu Stern made this 2-minute video walkthrough on how you can remove fungus on the glass elements of a camera lens.
Want to shoot soft focus photos without shelling out money for a specialty lens (like a Lensbaby)? You can build your own soft focus lens to play around with for about $15.
Here's an 8-minute video by the YouTube channel Magic Lens that shows how you can create magical wedding ring photographs using ordinary things found around the house.
While joking around with a friend recently, photographer Ted Forbes of The Art of Photography decided he would try his hand at building the ultimate selfie stick. What resulted is a monster selfie stick that Forbes has named the Stork Mach 1.
If you've done research into underwater housing, you'll know how expensive they can be. In some instances, they cost more than the camera. Certainly, when you pay the premium price you're also purchasing assurance, functionality, size, etc. However, rebel that I am, I didn't want to pay the premium, so I built my own.
We've seen some interesting DIY flash diffusers, but I can't remember ever seeing someone use a blown up balloon. Which is a shame, really, because it's a cheap and effective way to soften your pop-up flash, or even a small speedlight.
Have a photography loving fella or gal on your list this year? Feeling crafty? Running out of time to get them something? If you answered yes to these questions, these last-minute DIY gift ideas for photographers might just be your saving grace.
CDs... remember CDs? Me neither. But they were apparently a thing for a while, and if you have a box cutter and an old CD case lying around, you already have everything you need to make this fun DIY star filter to spice up your Holiday shots.
In 2015, Hugo Cardoso embarked on an interesting experiment: built a 35mm slit-scan film camera. That experiment was a big success, which left Cardoso only one choice going forward... go bigger! So he hunkered down at his work bench and set about creating a medium format version.
Photographer Tyson Haslam recently built himself a giant do-it-yourself camera for shooting large format photos on X-Ray film.
I entered the world of photography when digital cameras where already on the rise, and as a result, I learned photography on digital. That being said, I am a sucker for anything analog... the sensation of using real organic materials to produce photographs excites me.