doityourself

If you have a TLR camera, here's a simple trick you can try to help you to focus more easily. All you'll need is some rubber bands, scissors, aluminum foil, and a ruler (optional).

For many years, I have been modifying and adapting lighting and camera equipment to better fit my style of shooting. The process of altering lighting gear, as well as combining products that were not originally intended to work together, is of particular importance to me these days, as I constantly mix and match the best from many different brands.

Light diffusion panels can cost $80 to $100 or more when purchased retailed, but very little when you make them yourself, and to do so is very simple. I can’t tell you how many times I have been asked about my diffusion panels and where I get them from. The ones I use in my studio have all been custom-made to fit my needs, and I’ll show you just how to make your own.

In the fall of 2017, I had the opportunity to capture the transformation of an empty plot of land turning into a high-tech vehicle test track. The bulk of the construction would take place for about a year. My friend and colleague, Ryan, and I were tasked with capturing that transformation into a timelapse video.

Photographer Mathieu Stern is a fan of creating strange lenses, but his latest creation is quite unusual, even by his standards. Stern visited Iceland and created a working lens out of ice from an iceberg.

Like most photographers who have been working for many years, I have my favorite, go-to lights. These include the Broncolor Para 88, 133, and 222; the Broncolor 'pre-2006 style' Flooters; the Elinchrom Zoom Spots; and Elinchrom Litemotiv Indirect.

Controlling and modifying light is a lot of what photographing with studio lights and battery-powered strobes is about. Especially when it comes to portraits, I like to work with my lighting setups so they add something that is not perfect or flat.

Iranian photographer Alireza Rostami had a broken vintage Chinese Seagull TLR camera on his hands, and he recently decided to get creative with it by turning the lens into a working wristwatch-style camera.

A truly mass-market (and widely adopted) at-home automatic film processing machine has yet to appear in the world of photography. Photographer Mark Webb didn't want to wait around for one to show up, so he cobbled together one with his hardware and software knowledge. It's called the Developist.

How accurately do you expect your camera to be in representing the real world? If your answer is "not very," then Draw This is an instant camera designed for you. It snaps pictures and prints them as cartoon drawings.

The Think Tank Logistics Manager 30 is my absolute favorite when it comes to all the camera bags, tripods, photo bags, and other bags I own for my flash equipment, tripod, and cameras. But, like almost all rolling bags, it's mostly made for being taken indoors at airports, offices or other places with flat floors.

When low-quality photos or videos are posted online, people often say that they were shot with a "potato camera." But if you actually want to shoot photos with a literal potato camera, how would you go about doing so?

Thinking of putting together a professional photo portfolio as a high-impact way of sharing your work with potential clients? Check out this informative and inspiring 5-minute video by photographer Caleb Kerr, who recently built a portfolio of his own and put together a helpful walkthrough for anyone interested in doing the same.

Photographer Mathieu Stern loves experimenting with very old and/or strange camera lenses, but his latest project is quite strange, even by his standards. He used a 3D printer and created a lens that looks like a giant eyeball.

After watching the spread of the selfie stick over the past several years, photographer Peter McKinnon recently decided to try one himself for the first time. But then he decided he wanted something better... so he built himself a $10,000 ultra-Canadian selfie stick.

Polaroid cameras are fun to use, but shooting high numbers of instant photos can get very expensive very quickly. Tim Alex Jacobs, known as mitxela online, recently solved this problem by modifying a standard Polaroid camera into an instant camera that prints photos on thermal paper (the kind used for receipts).

I really enjoyed reading the Photography: The Definitive Visual History and it got me thinking about blending older forms of photography with newer digital equipment. I became obsessed with TLR (Twin Lens Reflex) cameras -- not for their ability to view through one lens while capturing an image through the other, but for the style of photography that this type of camera forces the photographer to adopt.

Professional portrait backdrops can cost over $1,000 apiece. If you'd like to get creative without getting broke, photographer Jessica Kobeissi has a thrifty DIY idea for you in this 4.5-minute video. She shows how you can create a custom backdrop using less than $5 in materials purchased from your local dollar store.

I recently got bored and decided to expand a super-budget project I'm working on. I love gridded beauty dishes for dramatic artsy stuff, beauty, and as a generally very versatile modifier. However, even a cheap one is out of budget for this project. So... I made one.

In December 2015, Shane Arsenault and I had started talking about a joint photography project with the purpose of using his 16”x20” Bellows Camera on a larger scale, which would give us the freedom to work outside a conventional studio space.

Have a camera body cap lying around collecting dust? Did you know that you can easily turn it into a do-it-yourself pinhole lens? Matt from Blue Mantle Films created this 1.5-minute video tutorial that shows how.