DIY

Capturing images of high speed events can be done in many different ways. In this video, flickr member Jon Rutlen went with a more explosive approach. Using a sound capturing device to trigger his camera, Jon shattered a bunch of different glasses in front of his DSLR camera and recorded the unique moment easily, reliably, and ultimately in a pretty safe environment. I remember my organic chemistry classes pretty vividly and Silver Acetylide is nothing to play around with so don't try this at home (I know no one really listens to that warning right?). I think the next step Jon and crew need to take is lighting the glasses in a more pleasing manner with some backlighting and off axis lighting to really give some depth to these explosions. Since we just launched our BTS Contest and everyone is thinking with a bit more creativity, what do you guys suggest Jon does to take this shoot to the next level?

So your band is about to go on tour and the obvious question is "what are we going to use for our backdrop?" Most bands would normally use a projector, an LED panel, or just some plain old stage lights. What the Japan based band Androp decided to do was much more interesting. Using 250 Canon cameras equipped with external flashes, the band wired everything together and programmed them with Arduino open source software to display different patterns of light and text. You really have to watch the full video to even grasp how cool this turned out. Check out the behind the scenes video below and jump to the full post for the final video.

If you have a large studio or perhaps even a small studio space in your home, chances are you have asked the question, "how in the world am I going to build a cyclorama wall?" Last year we shared with you a video on how to make a cyclorama wall done by Sam Robles. Well it seems Sam isn't the only photographer handy with a few carpentry tools. Check out this, ahem, inspiring video by the good people over at EyeHandy which outlines each and every step needed to make a solid and sturdy cyc wall for your studio or in this case dining room. I love one youtuber's comment, "after a while i stopped being aroused and started being amazed!" Happy summer time tool project!

This video has come across my desk several times the last few days but I never really bothered to click play until Ben Andino shared it on my facebook page. Not only did I have to hit pause and rewind it a half dozen times or so but I found myself laughing out loud during some of the segments. Every photographer will recognize products like the Gary Fong Lightsphere, Gorillapod, Lastolite Hilite, Canon Lens Mug, Strobe Snoot, and countless other photography staples. I can't imagine how long this Rube Goldberg setup took to build and get working 100% but I know I'm still not sure how several of the segments worked (like Mario and the instant print). My favorite part was definitely the TSA scanner. What part did you guys find the most entertaining? Check out the full post for the Behind The Scenes of how this was made.

The guys over at Stillmotion video have come up with a rather interesting way to film point of view video. Instead of mounting something small like a GoPro to a helmet, Stillmotion decided to use a Canon T2i. The camera was upside down directly in front of several football players' eyes as they trained in the 2011 NFL combine. Everything was made from common parts you can find at Home Depot or Lowes and the results are pretty interesting. After you watch the behind the scenes video below, head on over to the NFL Network to check out the final promo piece.

Happy 4th of July weekend if you are living in the United States. Jeremiah Warren just sent me a pretty remarkable and quite psychedelic video he made using a camera I have never heard of before now. Jeremiah mounted the tiny HD Micro Car Key Camera from ebay to different fireworks for a rather unique perspective. I have to admit this is really cool and I wish I had thought of it first. Click on the full post to see how the camera was mounted as well as a tear down video of the camera used so you can get a better idea of how these were mounted on large bottlerockets.

Maybe I'm behind the times but when I came across this video sponsored by Red Bull Illume, I had no idea what I was about to watch. Photographer Dan Vojtěch teaches you how you too can make a moving lenticular image while he photographs professional wakeboarder Sasha Christian. The software he uses is the 3D Masterkit by Triaxes if you want to try to create one of these yourself. It's definitely a cool effect especially when you can get different shots of your subject in the exact same pose.

Have you ever wondered how to make your own breakaway glass? It's surprisingly simple and in the video below Jay P Morgan walks us through the process step by step. Jay is also currently giving away 2 bottles from Alfonso's to one of his Twitter followers so make sure you are in the running!

Every now and then I toy around with the idea of calibrating my monitor. I know how important color is for a photographer, but as a Jpeg shooter I've always felt that if I can capture an image to my liking in camera then I should be good to go. In the past I have tried a few products to calibrate my monitors and the results have never been very pleasing to my eye. After a few hours of letting my eyes adjust, menu bars and icons I've seen for years start having a pink or yellow tone that I simply can't get used to viewing. Well today I decided to test the calibration waters again on my laptop (since it's not used as much as my main workstation). Many of our Twitter followers recommended the ColorMunki by X-Rite which lead me to the following video on their system. It all seems pretty straightforward on video but I want to see what you guys think. Have you had a good experience with calibrating your monitor and feel confident people on normal laptops are seeing your work in the best possible representation?

Darren Samuelson created a "great big camera." Although it isn't quite as big as another camera we have featured on FS, it is still just as interesting. Darren's camera shoots on 14x36inch X-Ray negative film.

Darren's Great Big Camera from SULTAN on Vimeo.

Our email has been flooded the last couple of days with this neat little flash program. At some point in your photographic journey, you've probably wondered how different shutter speeds and focal lengths affect your images. The guys over at Camera Sim have built an interactive flash simulator that lets you choose your ISO, Shutter Speed, Aperture, Focal Length, and even the lighting to expose for the perfect shot. I have to admit, I spent a good 5 minutes playing with all the settings and seeing how everything would turn out. I'm a little suspicious of the image created at 1 foot away @ 18mm but it's probably not an exact science. Imagine how much easier it would have been to learn what all these function do to your images if you had this back in the archaic era film era!

Don't you dread viewing your friend's and family's vacation pictures and videos? Even when I go on vacation I take so many bad pictures and videos that I don't even want to go back and view them again. What if we spent a little more time on our next vacation and shot pictures and stills with a particular project in mind? That is what this couple did and now they have a tight 4 minute video that is fun for anyone to watch. Check out the full post for another vacation video shot with a GoPro.

Lighting with a ring flash is a common technique among fashion and beauty photographers, yet it is often one of the most misunderstood and abused lighting setups among novice photographers. Simply using a single on axis light is hardly ever appealing but when coupled with other lights the ringflash look can become very flashy and dynamic. You often see this sort of light in music videos, glamour photos like Playboy, and of course high fashion shoots. In this video Tom Antos not only shows you an easy ring flash lighting setup he used for a music video but he also shows you how you can make your own constant light version for video productions. These same techniques can easily be adapted for still photos, and if your model is not moving much you can actually use the constant light version for stills as well.

Yes, it has been done to death but everyone loves to see it so we will keep posting it. Digital Rev TV has been doing a series called the "Cheap Camera Challenge" and so far they have created 3 videos with 3 different photographers shooting on 3 different cheap cameras. Check out the full post to see all 3 videos.

I released The iPhone Fashion Shoot back in July of 2010 thinking that it would be a fun way to prove a simple point (that people can create compelling images with any camera). I never thought 1, that the video would become so huge and 2, that 50% of everyone who saw it would totally miss the point. Half of the comments made on my video are about my expensive studio lights, professional model, professional hair, makeup, and retouching. People still didn't want to admit that they were capable of taking great shots on whatever gear they had. Still to this day I get emails all the time where people suggest that I do another iPhone Fashion Shoot outside with natural light and without a professional model but I was never interested. I really don't want to become known as the "iPhone photographer" and these videos are a lot of work to produce. Well I just got an email from Pye at SLR Lounge and he did all of the work for me! Pye takes a normal girl outside and uses 2 reflectors to create stunning images... It does not get any more simple than this... The point has now officially been made. No more excuses people.

This video has been hitting the blogs recently, but I didn't really watch it until it wound up in our inbox a half a dozen times. I guess I should say that this is probably the absolute textbook way to clean a lens but does anyone actually own all these rocket blowers, cleaning brushes, and cleaning supplies? I guess since I've never scratched a lens, I've always found one of these to be acceptable. Instead of using compressed air, I've always just used my mouth...am I a really bad person?

This is by no means the most thrilling video but it is really interesting. I've always wondered what was officially the "first" digital camera, and I guess I now know. Steven Sasson claims that he invented digital photography when he created this strange looking camera. The camera could shoot stills and record up to 30 of them on a digital tape. It's amazing how far we have come in such a short amount of time.

We have posted about Twixtor before but today I was sent 2 great examples of it being put to use. Instead of simply slowing frames down, Twixtor actually can create as many frames as you like for super smooth ultra slo mo. Obviously nothing beats actually shooting at 1000fps but this program is quite good in most cases. We used it on every frame for the intro of The Wakeboard Studio Shoot. Check out the full post for a second video.

Howdy, and welcome to the Wednesday Rundown. How many of us really take advantage of the video function of our camera? I have been able to see Lee and Patrick transform from strickly photography to a being able to knock out some great videos. It does take time and they don't let me hang out with them while they are editing, I tend to get them off topic a bunch, but these guys really make it look easy. If you haven't had the chance to sit down and dabble around with editing video, well now is the time. I have found a great video editing tutorial and even some great looking open source editing software. You may have to do some reading on these but it is worth a shot, you really have no excuse. With everyone else learning you should jump on the wagon and catch up. What if shooting video takes over shooting stills for weddings or other major events? Could it happen in our lifetime? If you have a video that you think we might like to post, please click on "submit content" above.

We have all seen stuff like this done before but it's usually some sort of huge production team. All of my friends seem to own at least 2 cameras each so I could easily pull this off if I could get 12 of them together :).

I just saw this and it made me smile so I thought I would share it with all of you. Keep in mind that you still have a few days left to help Noam with our Photoshop contest. If you have no idea what is going on in this video then you need to watch this.

I created the iPhone Fashion Shoot to attempt to prove this point. 50% of the people who saw it "got" it and the other 50% claimed that it only looked good because I used $10,000 worth of light. Well I've always said "light is light" and all those expensive light modifiers do is make the light source bigger or smaller. Don't believe me? Bert Stephani will take over where I left off shooting with these work lights (the same ones that I used for part of the iPhone shoot) and a shower curtain.

Just ran across this quick BTS of a commercial Lucas Zanotto made. Check out the 40 second BTS below and then check out the full post to see the amazing finished product.

Benjamin Von Wong finished an informative BTSV of his last dancer photoshoot. This video was filmed by Eva Jinn Productions. Ben gives some great reasons to use flour instead of smoke to accent light in your photos. Check out the high res shots and more info here.

Jay P. Morgan is at it again with his super informative, large production, BTSVs. Check out the video below where Jay shows us how to make a rain machine for a photo or video shoot. I never thought I would ever make one of these but after seeing this video it actually doesn't seem that hard.

If you've ever played with an effects lens like the Lens Baby Composer then you are probably aware that you can actually create out of focus areas that have specific shapes by using specially designed apertures. Well Kaleb Wentzel-Fisher took this one step further and actually made his out of focus bokeh spell out words during a recent video shoot. I think there is a lot to be desired with the final video but the concept is pretty genius. Check out this video below to see how Kaleb designed the 'aperture' blades and click on the full post to see the final video.

Light Works - Behind The Scenes from Supernormals on Vimeo.

Usually our videos are directed towards advanced amateurs and professionals but if you are new to DSLR video, these videos will help out. Philip Bloom teamed up with Vimeo.com to create 8 great tutorials. Check the full post to see the other 7 videos.

Dave Dugdale has been an Fstoppers reader for a while now but I had not come across his own useful site Learning DSLR Video until yesterday. He left a comment on one of our videos and I clicked on his site to check it out (yes we actually check out our reader's sites). When I saw one of his videos I immediately emailed him and asked if he would teach me how to colorkey footage in Premiere. Now Dave is not a photographer at all but rather an audio engineer, and what is so cool about his videos are that they document his progression into the field of videography. As a professional photographer myself, I feel like I'm in the same boat as Dave and I'm sure a lot of you guys feel that way too. Dave is filming on a Canon T2i and editing on Premiere CS5. If you are just getting into audio or video, stop by LearningDSLRVideo.com and check out some of his work. Hopefully you can use this information for your own BTS videos; I know we are going to do this soon on one of our FS Originals in the near future. <

Are you planning to build your own studio one day? If not, this video probably won't interested you. But, if you do dream of having a studio (like most photographers do) then this video will get you one step closer. The incredibly talented Sam Robles takes you through the step by step process of building a cyc wall from scratch.

How to build a cyclorama wall from Sam Robles on Vimeo.

I wish I had more info on this but all I know is that a guy named "Ben" made this electric dolly. With an automated dolly, you can create moving time lapse footage. You can view more pictures of his creation here.

DIY Dolly from Ben on Vimeo.

For all you DIY hipster photographers out there who always wanted to shoot pictures with a Pumpkin...

How To Turn A Pumpkin Into A Camera from NPR on Vimeo.

If you like building stuff then you may want to view the video below. If you are like me, and you would rather just buy something that works perfectly out of the box, then I would highly suggest buying the IndiSlider. Its only $99 and it works great!

DIY Inexpensive Camera Slider from J.G. Pasterjak on Vimeo.

Martin needed a light weight camera crane that could fit in a backpack, setup in under two minutes, and hold a DSLR. This sounds too good to be true right? Well it was, so I built one by hand.

Light Camera Crane - Build from Martin Roberts on Vimeo.

Dave, Jono, and Braden are some fun lads from Australia who like to sling around burning metal during their photoshoots. Luckily for our readers they decided to participate in the behind the scenes video contest and show everyone how they too can get this wild effect. Check out this interesting video and feel free to leave comments for the guys below! <

A few days ago I posted a video this duo created to help all the haters understand that expensive gear does not equal quality pictures. Well Zach And Corinne are back at it again with their contest entry. I was hoping for something a bit more in depth from these guys but they packed some quality into 3 minutes.

BTS Photoshoot from Zach Andrews on Vimeo.

This is going to be a busy week for FS. The contest submissions are starting to pour in because the deadline is only 6 days away. We are going to try to bring you at least one professional BTSV and at one contest submission every day. For her contest submission, Amber Williams teaches us about infrared photography (something I knew nothing about). Amber did a fantastic job of keeping the video interesting and informational. I'm just excited that there are some some cute female Fstoppers out there. Show Amber some love in the comment box below. <

One of our readers Rhett Bingham just sent this over to us. I really do not see the point in this at all but it is so well shot that I have got to promote it. Even though I would never ever do this for any reason, it blew my mind that someone would. ><

If you didn't know, the GoPro HD is a cheap video camera that shoots stunning HD footage. These guys attach it to a weather balloon and then let it fly (what appears to be) into space and then they use GPS to retrieve it. Is this for real!?!

Balloon flight, shot with an HD HERO camera from GoPro. from Francois Brahic on Vimeo.

Normally I would not be too interested in this sort of thing. Honestly I don't really get the hype with these shoulder mounts. However, this is so well made and the follow focus he added is genius. Check it out.

DIY DSLR Wooden Shoulder Rig from Jonathan Clifford Bergqvist on Vimeo.

I actually made a video about this over a year ago when I had no clue how to use Premiere. I also didn't have and wireless mics so I edited the whole video in movie maker and everyone who saw it said they couldn't hear me over the music. So we decided to reshoot it with our fancy D300s cameras, Sennheiser Mics, and Adobe Premiere. Hopefully you can understand me now because I am not going to do this again. Youtube version after the jump. ><