For people looking to protect their belongings from theft in public places, there are bag alarms out there that can alert them (and everyone around them) if someone tries to pick up their stuff. DIY hacker Kip Kedersha (kipkay on YouTube) recently came up with a clever way to make one of these alarms for just $2.
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Are you looking for creative ways to decorate your walls and display numerous photos without making it look like your crazy great-aunt’s hallway? Now you can with this ingenious DIY project!
While I would love to take credit for this idea, it is really my wife’s brainchild. Apparently a desire to decorate the walls, the concept of saving money while using up junk in one’s basement to make the house look pretty, combined with time spent surfing the web will generate exceptionally creative ideas like this. (Yes, there are others who have done similar. However, that was only discovered after the original brainchild was birthed.) So, let’s get started, shall we?
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The Dirkon pinhole 35mm camera is made entirely from paper cut from a template by designers Martin Pilný, Mirek Kolář and Richard Vyškovský. The three published the template in a 1979 issue of Czechoslovakian magazine ABC mladých techniků a přírodovědců (translated as An ABC of Young Technicians and Natural Scientists). While original prints of the magazine are rare, the Dirkon gained cult popularity in Chzechoslovakia.
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As you already know, we’re pretty obsessed with Polaroids, and all the creative photography we can get our hands on. This tutorial will teach you how to make a pop-up Polaroid camera card that “prints” out a miniature Polaroid picture.
The pieces of card stock for this project are about 7-1/2 inches long by 4-1/2 inches wide. To create a mini Polaroid you can print, we recommend using the Shake It Photo iPhone app. Send the image from your phone to your email, drop it into Preview, Photoshop or Word to resize, and you’re good to go.
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Want to add some custom tints to your photos without resorting to digital trickery? dainy over at Lomography has a tutorial on how you can create a simple color filter using some cardboard and colored transparency sheets. Combining thin strips of various colors can lead to pretty artsy effects.
Make Your Own Color Filter! [Lomography]
Laptop bag straps make for pretty comfortable camera straps since they’re designed for carrying a good amount of weight on your shoulders, but they usually come with clasps that aren’t compatible with strap mounts. Nano_Burger has the solution: add clasp-friendly loops to your camera using some thin strapping, staples, and Gorilla glue. The sturdy loops will last the lifetime of the camera, and can be cut off if you ever decide to switch to a different strap.
Mike Warren has written up an in-depth tutorial on how you can build a 360° camera hat using 6-8 disposable cameras. The cameras are worn around the head like a crown, and are simultaneously trigger using a single shutter release with the help of servo motors that depress the shutter when triggered. Warren writes,
With the camera array sitting on your head, you’re able to capture a 360° panorama view of your surroundings. This project requires no special electronics knowledge and can be assembled in about an hour.
I designed this camera array off something I saw on the “Radar Detector” music video by Darwin Deez. But, after making the camera hat, everyone kept asking if it was a low-fi version of Google Street View. It’s more the former than the latter, but people can draw their own interpretations.
Want to enjoy a glimpse of photographic awesomeness every time you glimpse at the time at home? Create a giant wall clock with picture frames to mark each hour! You’ll need a clock kit (or a disassembled clock) and 12 picture frames. You can be more serious by shooting photos of the numbers 1 through 12 for the frames, or go creative by putting in all kinds of random images.
Make an Easy DIY Wall Clock from Photos [Photojojo]
Camera hoarder Stacie Grissom of Stars for Streetlights received a massive collection of old cameras from her uncle a couple years ago. She soon discovered that she wouldn’t possibly have time to use all of them, so she took a few of the neglected and worn down ones and made a one-of-a-kind lamp for her home. The cameras were turned into the lamp base using a pipe and some cold weld, and the lamp shade was made using color slide film. If you have some broken cameras lying around and want to make your own, Grissom has detailed her entire process over on her blog.
How to Make a Lamp from Vintage Cameras (via Make)
Image credit: Photograph by Stacie Grissom/Stars for Streetlights
We really enjoy DIY projects for photographers, and as such we’ve featured everything from the ultra simple to complex light-painting robots. But what excites us about Instructables‘ DIY tilt-shift adapter isn’t just the durable plunger adapter you end up with, but rather the idea that one could manufacture their own camera accessories with a little bit of design skill and a 3D printer (check out Shapeways if you don’t have one sitting around).
For this particular project you’ll need a camera, an extra lens, some digital calipers, 3D design software like 123D, and access to a 3D printer or 3D printing service. After that just follow the steps in this video and you can wind up with results like the ones you see below. Read more…
