Photographer Allen Mowery has a step-by-step tutorial on how to build a useful DIY flash mounting accessory using a ratcheting hand clamp and standard 1/4-inch threaded screw. It's a cheap DIY version of the Super Clamp or Nasty Clamp, and can help you place your flash in places that are inaccessible to light stands or traditional equipment.
Here's a nifty Photoshop tip by photographer Alex Wise on how you can use a Threshold layer to approximate black and white points in a photograph, and then use those points in the Curves tool to remove color casts from photos.
Here's a simple lesson by Dylan Bennett on what depth of field is, how it works, and how to control it in your photography.
Adam Dachis over at Lifehacker offers a simple method for correcting underexposed photo with any image editor that supports layers, inversion, and Overlay blending mode. Simply create a duplicate later, invert it, set the blending mode to Overlay, and then adjust the opacity to suit your taste. While it's certainly not a pro photography trick -- other techniques including adjusting the curves and levels may be better -- it's a quick and easy tip that may be good to know.
Here's an interesting video tutorial by Destin of Smarter Every Day that shows how you can capture amazing photos of guns being fired and their muzzle flashes. Here's the "basic" idea: he uses a piezoelectric transducer to convert acoustical energy into an electrical pulse, which he sends through a pulse generator. The pulse from the pulse generator is used to trigger a flash and an high-speed exposure. This allows him to photograph guns at the moment they're fired in the same way many people …
Last week we featured some "sound painting" photographs by Martin Klimas, captured by using a speaker to vibrate paint. Here's a video tutorial by some Arizona State University Polytechnic students demonstrating how you can do your own "sound painting" photos. They use a thrift store speaker covered with a garbage bag and some Crayola poster paint.
If you have some unwanted 35mm negatives lying around and need a simple gift idea, you can try your hand at turning them into one-of-a-kind bookmarks. Simply cut out the actual frames from the film strip and replace them with actual photographs to create film strips that you don't need to hold up to the light to enjoy.
If you're relatively new to Photoshop, you might not know that it's possible to highlight and/or remove the various options in dropdown menus. All you need to do is play around with the Edit->Menus screen to make your commonly used options more visible and to reduce clutter by hiding options that you've never touched in your life.
If you've ever tried shooting in a dark location without using flash or a tripod, you probably know how difficult it can be to remove camera shake from your photos. Alex Jansen -- a photography enthusiast who's an officer in the US Army -- has written up an awesome tutorial on how you can apply some of the tricks used by rifle shooters to shooting with a camera: …
If you're a fan of learning things through Khan Academy, then you might enjoy learning about how ISO works in this similar-styled tutorial by Dylan Bennett. Bennett might not have Salman Khan's soothing voice, but he does his best to break down the magic of digital camera sensors into easy to understand ideas. For a more detailed and comprehensive understanding of how things work, check out Cambridge in Colour's excellent tutorials.
Here's an excellent video tutorial by photographer Peter Hurley on how to improve your portrait photographs by focusing on the jawline of your subject. It's a simple technique that can drastically improve the quality of your images.
Home decor idea: if you're looking for a creative way to display your photographs, you can turn some medium-sized stones and florist wire sticks into photo holders. Use rocks of different sizes and sticks of varying lengths to create your own photo garden in the house! …
Photography enthusiast Maciej Pietuszynski jumped into tilt-shift photography recently by building a do-it-yourself tilt-shift lens out of an old 50mm f/1.8 prime lens, a shower head, and a rubber glove. The process isn't for the faint of heart -- it involves disassembling the lens. You can see some of the resulting photographs in this Flickr set.
Here's a sweet DIY project idea by Brittany Morin that's perfect for that special day that's right around the corner: scratch-off cards made from Polaroid pictures! Basically all you need is some acrylic paint and some dish soap. Mix the two together with a ratio of one part soap for every two parts paint and you'll have yourself some scratch-able paint!
Here's a tutorial on how to do non-automated HDR for real estate photography using Photoshop CS5. The first thing you'll need is a sturdy tripod with a level. The closer you are to a leveled image, the less correction you'll have to do later.
Elizabeth Giorgi of Being Geek Chic made this step-by-step video tutorial teaching how to make a stylish DIY camera wristlet using some fabric and iron-on fusible.
If you have an old mount for attaching a GPS or cell phone to your windshield, you can upcycle it into a suction cup tripod for your camera (just make sure it's not the flimsy kind that falls off on its own). What you'll need to do is flatten the mount surface and then install a tripod screw. Nano_Burger has a step-by-step tutorial on how he did this conversion over on Instructables. The resulting tripod allows you to fix your camera in locations that aren't accessible to tripods that don't …
Heavier tripods are generally more stable than lighter ones -- wind doesn't affect them as much -- but hauling them around can be a pain. Instructables user Andrew Axley came up with the brilliant idea of making his simple tripod more stable by adding his own weight hook. The tripod is light when not in use and when you need extra stability you simply hang your camera bag onto the hook. All you need to do is figure out a way to attach a hook securely at the center -- Axley chose to drill a hole …
Industrial design student Hunter Frerich came up with a simple and cheap DIY beauty dish that's created using fabric, foil, velcro, and glue. To make your own, simply download and print out the template and follow the step-by-step instructions.
Here's a fantastic project/gift idea for those of you who are both tech-savvy and artsy: make a custom snow globe of your house. The process involves capturing photographs of the house from all sides, turning the images into a 3D model of the home using a 3D modeling program (e.g. Google Sketchup), turning the 3D model into a physical object using a 3D printing service (e.g. Shapeways), and then sticking the object into a custom snow globe kit. Qarl has published a step-by-step tutorial on the …
Here's a short video in which photo instructor Bryan Peterson shows how you can use sunlight and a simple reflector for creative macro shots -- perfect for people who have a macro lens but lack lighting equipment.
Accidentally expose an entire roll of film to light? Instead of throwing it away, you can turn it into a geeky greeting card! Lomographer brilliantgreen made a Christmas-themed one using small illustrations and letters cut out of a magazine, but you could do it for any occasion.
If you're a photographer and not an architect, why settle for boring ol' gingerbread houses this holiday season? Gingerbread cameras are where it's at! They're not very difficult to build -- you just need to know the correct sizes and shapes to cut out. Photojojo has published a step-by-step tutorial on how you can make your own.
Here's a neat idea for photographic experimentation: create a pinhole camera out of photographic paper by folding it into an origami box with the light-sensitive side on the inside. The hole that is used to blow the box into its shape is also used to expose the inside to the outside world. After exposing it, simply unfold it and process it using standard developer and fix.
Light painting master Dennis Calvert (whose work we featured back in October) created this interesting time-lapse making of video showing how he created one of his epic photographs, titled "Thermodynamic Engineering".
Eve Johnson of Evalicious wanted to turn some old digital photographs into Instax-style prints for a travel journal, so she decided to make some fake ones. She arranged two photos on each template, saved them as 4x6 prints, had them made at a local print shop, and then cut them out in Instax dimensions. You can find the low down over on her blog.
Wanna add some photo-geekery to your Christmas tree this year? Try making custom Christmas ornaments out of strips of film or printed photographs! twinklecat has written up a film ornament tutorial over at Lomography, and Shelley Haganman has an easy-to-follow photo ornament tutorial over at scrappergirl.
Wanting a cheap and compact way to carry, protect, and manage his SD cards, Instructables member FrankenPaper discovered that the plastic cases that come with Sunstar GUM Soft-Picks are the perfect size for holding 2 cards. To keep the cards from jostling around and to track whether they're full or empty, he created an insert that you can print, cut, and fold yourself (download the PDF here).
Here's an informative lesson on shutter sync by photographer Matthew Gore, who writes, …
If you have an unwanted silk scarf lying around, you can combine it with some key rings to turn it into a stylish camera strap. All you need are some key rings and a sewing machine (and some leather if you want extra style points). Stacie over at Scarves.net has written a step-by-step tutorial on how you can make your own.
Want to made giant prints of your tiny phone photos? Instead of doing the enlargement purely with Photoshop, Photojojo suggests using a scanner for high-quality enlarging. Simply resample the small photo at 360dpi, print it out on high quality matte paper, and then re-digitize it using a scanner at 360dpi and the print size you want. It'd be interesting to see a side-by-side comparison of this technique versus simply resizing in Photoshop and printing that image directly.
Here's a Photoshop tutorial by Twin Cities Photography Group teaching how you can use Photoshop's High Pass Filter to soften the skin on a portrait subject without losing the skin's texture.
In this short video, photographer Allen Mowery shows how you can create a super-simple DIY Gary Fong Lightsphere for about $1 using some vinyl drawer liner and some velcro.
Here's a helpful tutorial by Jay P. Morgan of The Slanted Lens on how to mix strobe light with sunlight to make photographs more interesting.
In the past week, two different lens dial camera cases have been announced for iPhoneographers: a Holga toy camera case and a more serious lens dial case. If you don't want to shell out cash to add a lens dial to your phone (and don't mind it looking ridiculous), you can make a do-it-yourself lens dial using a jar lid and random lenses scavenged from various devices. The dial is attached to the back of your phone using a suction cup, and can give you magnification on-the-go.
Last week we featured Jason Hull's awesome nightlights created out of old (and cheap) vintage cameras. If you've been dying to learn how you can make one yourself, today's your lucky day: Hull has written up a step-by-step tutorial showing how the conversion is done. If you do attempt this project, try to find a broken camera -- working ones are happiest when they're used for photo-making! …
We've featured special gloves and mittens designed for photographers before, but what if your camera uses a touchscreen instead of physical controls? Here's a video by Make's Becky Stern showing how you can sew some conductive thread into your glove to make it compatible with capacitive touchscreens.
For his wedding, designer Matt Frank built this photo booth that looks like a giant Lomo camera. It comprises a Mac running Photo Booth, a monitor for reviewing photos, halogen lighting, and a hacked Easy Button that acts as a shutter release. Frank writes, …
Haven't found a small camera case that's stylish enough for your taste? Matt over at Wood&Faulk has written up a tutorial on how you can make your own protective camera wrap using some heavy wool fabric and a leather or canvas strap: …
If you've never done studio portraits before, check out this uber-helpful video that quickly runs through five basic lighting techniques commonly used by photographers everywhere.
If you're looking for a creative way to display your photos (and decorate your home), papernstitch has a tutorial on how you can make circular picture frames using embroidery hoops. The photographs are printed onto PhotoFabric and then held taut between the hoop rings.
Flickr user Twin-Reverb made this nifty DIY flash diffuser using a cardboard paper towel tube, a paper towel, and some aluminum foil.
A couple days ago it was discovered that iPhones, iPods, and iPads running iOS 5 have a secret panorama mode that's hidden in the operating system. The feature can be enabled, but featured either a jailbroken device or knowledge in how to edit a particular iOS 5 preference file. Luckily for non-hackers, Redmond Pie has discovered an easy way to do this by taking advantage of iTune's backup feature. This tutorial will teach you how to get the panorama feature unlocked in 5-10 minutes.
Photographer Tyler Card's uber-creative Nikon DSLR costume was the talk of the photo world this past Halloween. If you've been wondering how he managed to make a fully functional giant DSLR, you're in luck: Card has written up an extensive tutorial explaining how it was done: …
Here's a helpful tutorial on how to adjust the angle of your light sources to avoid the nasty reflections that show up in eyeglasses. It has to do with understanding and harnessing the "angle of incidence" and "angle of reflection" of your light.
Photographer Peter Wirén came up with a super cheap and easy way to record sliding shots using his DSLR. Instead of buying an expensive slider or dolly system, he simply cut the fingers off an old glove and used them as "socks" on his GorillaPod.
Many digital cameras are battery-only, and can't be directly connected to an outlet for an infinite source of power. That's ordinarily not a problem, but can become an issue if you attempt to do things like time-lapse imagery, for which the camera needs to stay powered and perfectly stationary for extended periods of time. That was the problem faced by Instructables member txoof with his Olympus E520. Handy with electronics and woodworking, he decided to build his own AC/DC interface for the …
Editor's note: Since we featured in back in August, Justin Jensen's Cineskates project has raised nearly half a million dollars. Here's a DIY tutorial by Ed Lewis on how to make your own.
This beautiful (and disorienting) photograph was made by Evan Sharboneau of Photo Extremist. If you can't make sense of it, try tilting your head 90-degrees to the left. The technique isn't too difficult -- it's taken the same way as photos of things dropped into water.
Want a pair of mittens that don't interfere with your love for photography? If you know how to knit, you can make your own! Norwegian knitter Bea created a nifty pair of mittens that have a hole your index finger can poke through when your camera shutter summons it. You can find the free pattern on her site if you'd like to make your own.
