Photographer Kirsty Wiseman didn't want to shell out money for a real beauty dish -- she doesn't really need one -- so she built this funny-looking DIY beauty dish for a few pennies using a couple of Styrofoam bowls, a couple of cocktail sticks, and a piece of aluminum foil. After playing around with it, Wiseman was delightfully surprised to find that her gear hack actually produced decent results.
When filmmaker Ben Gill recently needed a way to attach his cameras to a car dashboard for a movie he was making, he decided to go the DIY route and come up with a makeshift solution. His resulting mount costed less than $10, and worked quite well. It was created using a car sponge (the kind that looks like a giant peanut) and some rug pad.
Israeli photographer Ido Nassimi wanted to geotag the photographs shot using his Nikon D90, but didn't want to shell out $200 bucks for Nikon's official GP-1 GPS receiver. Since he had a GPS Bluetooth receiver lying around, he decided to do some research and make it compatible with his DSLR. He ended up successfully building one for around $50.
If you want to take Lensbaby-style selective focus macro shots using your phone, go buy a cheap laser pointer. Photographer Zaheer Mohiuddin writes that the lens inside laser pointers (the one that focuses the laser) works well as a macro lens for the tiny cameras found on smartphones. After taking the device apart and finding the small gem-like lens, simply attach it to your camera with some tape to start shooting close-up pictures.
If you need to do a quick shoot in the rain but don’t have a proper rain cover handy, …
If you’re in need of some quick image stabilization but don’t want to shell out …
Want to add some custom tints to your photos without resorting to digital trickery? …
If you want to snap a photograph of the sun (perhaps during an eclipse) without burning your …
After buying a Yongnuo flash and finding its wireless capabilities “hit and miss”, Marcell of …
Laptop bag straps make for pretty comfortable camera straps since they’re designed for carrying a good amount …
Peter West Carey of DPS has a neat trick for always having a …
Photographer Christian Lobo came up with this thrifty macro setup that uses his Canon Rebel T3/1100D and a 50mm f/1.8. It might look ghetto, but it actually functions pretty well for casual macro photography.
After seeing some elegant black picture frames with brass edges in a designer magazine, Courtney of …
If you have a Canon compact camera running the Canon Hack Development Kit …
Photographer Jared Krause made this simple camera strap for shooting on …
Camera bags can get pricy, and when it comes to camera bags that travel well (i.e. on wheels) prices can really skyrocket. In fact, if you type "Rolling Camera Bag" into Amazon your first three options will run you $262.54, $171.07, and $249.00.
Photography enthusiast Jeff Vier made himself a cheap DIY grid spot using a …
When working with rim lights, or shooting into a significant backlight, glare becomes a serious issue. The typical solution to this problem is setting up flags on either side of your subject, but who needs flags when you have a spare piece of Coroplast sitting around your studio?
Want to attach your smartphone to your tripod without buying a special mount? Two large binder clips can do …
After cleaning out his garage, photo enthusiast Drew decided to convert it into a makeshift studio by creating a mount to hang seamless white paper or a muslin from the rafters. He used ceiling hooks, chains, S hooks, and a 12-foot-long dowel.
This might look like a pile of garbage, but it’s actually one of the homemade camera used by photographer …
When the grip on his Canon Rebel T2i finally peeled and warped beyond repair, NYU computer science and mechanical …
Flickr user Nick Cool was shooting in Machu Picchu, Perú on a sunny …
YouTube filmmaker Casey Neistat‘s DSLR recently took a tumble, breaking a piece off …
Here’s a super cool trick: instead of buying a special macro lens for your smart phone, simply use a …
Want to get closer to animals when doing wildlife photography? If there’s access, your car can do the trick …
Photography enthusiast Maciej Pietuszynski jumped into tilt-shift photography recently by building a do-it-yourself …
Want to improve the quality of the photos captured using your DSLR's popup flash? Tina (AKA synthetic_meat) discovered that the cardboard box that came with a particular brand of chocolate had a nice silver lining on the inside -- perfect for making a mirrored bounce reflector! After some cutting, scoring, and folding, she came up with a DIY Lightscoop clone that lets you bounce your onboard flash off the ceiling or wall for softer and more appealing images. You can download the free template to make your own in both A4 and Letter formats.
Heavier tripods are generally more stable than lighter ones — wind doesn’t affect them as much — but hauling …
After damaging the pellicle mirror in his Sony A55 with cleaning fluid, a guy named Dario decided to look …