DIY Photography

It's important in photography to stay creative, and this simple DIY lens hack from Pye Jirsa does just that. Learn how to create a "flare ring" of your own in just a few minutes. 

Many countries around the world are now experiencing social distancing and practicing self-isolation, me (in the U.K) included. So I’m pledging to run a series of photography tutorials for those of us affected by these measures.  

You can’t polish a turd, but you can do your darndest to make sure all your ducks are in a row, photographically speaking. To prove that you can make anything look good, I'm shooting an old potato. Surprisingly, it doesn’t take a lot to make your images sing, so here’s my top four tips to make any subject look good. 

So, you want to photograph yourself but don’t have anyone to stand in to get your focus set? No problem, all you need is a tripod and a coin for sharp selfies, every time. 

Macro photography has such a draw for beginner photographers because it opens up a world we can’t see with the naked eye. Most camera stores will tell you that you need a macro lens to do this kind of work, but don’t believe the hype. There are plenty of ways to do macro with the kit you already have. 

Using items you probably already have at home, you can make your own light table that’s perfect for close-up photographs, because, let's face it, not all of us have the room or budget for full-size professional light tables. 

Portable drives are getting better and faster all the time, while the cost of high-capacity drives has finally started to come down. Yet, new technologies always develop faster than the leading brands can get products to market. That's where DIY solutions shine.  

A photographer who experimented with the Lomomod No. 1 camera, the first ever medium format camera made from cardboard with a liquid lens, has claimed it’s the worst camera he has ever tested.

Good photos are golden when you are listing on Airbnb. Bad images can hold back a lot of DIY hosts.  

The omnipresence of camera phones and their prospect of "replacing" professional cameras has caused an uneasy stir within the photographic community. And now adding to this agitation are a few professionals who are offering photography workshops based on shooting with smartphone cameras.

Just five years ago, would this even have seemed possible?

Has DIY gone too far? I don't think so.

A video recently posted by COOPH, “5 Photo Hacks with Your Umbrella,” provides photographers creative inspiration for a tool that is typically seen as single purpose. Chances are, you will finish it feeling inspired. 

The five hacks in the video are smoke bombing, DIY light source, control the shadow, bouncing, and overhead patterns.

A photographer has restored a “magic lantern” given to his great-great-grandfather 160 years ago. In one of the earliest examples of photography as we know it, decades before the invention of cinema, the Lampascope existed. 

Big flat lays are very much in trend both commercially and with social media. Here are three ways that I set up the camera on an overhead rig as well as their pros and cons. 

There are loads of articles and online tutorials showing you how to achieve certain looks or perfect a set technique. But more important than this, for me, is showing up.

Adobe's update to Photoshop CC 2020 contains some powerful upgrades and tools but, like any software release, it also has some bugs, quirks and missing tools that users must adapt to. Or, if you take Colin Smith's advice, you can fix them yourself. 

I love going through Pinterest and looking at all of the beautiful photography studios. Broncolor lights, clean lines, tripods that could support a small car, but in this video I go through the realities of making your own studio space.

A simple click and boom, the background is gone from behind the subject of your image. It can't be this easy, right? It can be. It is, all thanks to the latest Adobe Photoshop CC 2020 update. And the fun doesn't stop there.  

If you use screw-in lens filters, sooner or later, you may end up with a stuck lens filter that refuses to come off. Have no fear, though: here are 10 ways to remove that stuck lens filter. 

I love scrims. I don't actually remember the last time that I did a photoshoot without one. In this video, I go over the different options as well as how I build my own scrims. 

Here’s the story of how one photographer turned a huge symphony hall into potentially the world’s largest darkroom. From the stage, he took a tintype portrait and developed it in front of a 1,400-strong audience. 

It was at the STORY conference in Nashville, TN that Blake Wylie orchestrated the stunt. He was one of a number of professionals invited to speak at the event.

Think the dust inside your lens is bad? The owners of a vintage camera shop have been testing out what it’s like taking photos using a Kaleinar 100mm f/2.8 lens with a severely smashed middle element. So, how did it fare? 

I admit it: I like easy, especially when it comes to photography. That's why I've come to embrace these 10 tips that I have learned over the years. And most of them won't cost you a penny to incorporate. 

You don’t need a fancy studio to take fancy photographs. Sometimes, all you need is a garage. 

An experimental photographer has mixed a series of weird lenses while keeping the same anamorphic lens in order to test out how the combinations impact the image quality and bokeh in its video capabilities. Some of the combinations gave interesting, shallow bokeh. 

Crazy high shutter speeds can lead to some pretty awesome photos as you capture things that simply happen too fast for our eyes and brains. This video brings some simple, easy, and fun shots your way using those super quick shutter speeds. 

Is 3D printing the next step in niche manufacturing for photography gear? How does a 3D-printed product stack up against its all-metal CNC'ed inspiration? 

Whether you are a photographer or videographer, more and more content creators are adding constant lights as their go-to lighting setups. Quasar Science recently released their 30-watt T8 bulbs with raving reviews, and today, I explore six useful lighting setups you can build with four lights under $80 each.  

If you have a good understanding of how light works, you may find that an expensive studio stuffed full of high-end strobes and funky diffusers is far from important when it comes to creating striking images. In this short video, photographer Irene Rudnyk shows you how to produce something remarkable using little more than a shed. 

As photographers and videographers, let's be honest, we never have enough light equipment. But it can quickly become quite expensive! Thanks to DIY Perks, if you own an old TV that you don't use anymore, you won't have to break your bank account to add a new LED panel to your kit.  

A photographer has extracted the lens of Kodak’s Vest Pocket Camera, released in 1912, to test its capabilities shooting video on his Sony. Now over 100 years old, the VP Camera was revolutionary in its day, popular with soldiers throughout World War I.

Use two threaded circular filters at once and you run a terrible risk: they might get stuck together. It happened to me when I was using a neutral density filter and a circular polarizer. Here’s how I got them unstuck. 

Besides shooting cars or architecture, light painting can also be useful when you want to achieve creative results without spending lots of money.  

I enjoy shooting film from time to time. I like the process, the feel, and the whole "specialness" of it. Up until somewhat recently, I was afraid to develop myself, but this video from fantastic channel Eduardo Pavez Goye shows that developing film is a lot less scary than you may think.  

So widely available is industry-standard photographic equipment these days, the sight of a camera in any form is an everyday occurrence. Less frequently spotted are the creations of one UK-based artist, who transforms everyday items — including food — into functioning film cameras. 

What happens when you fly half way across the world to shoot portraits of a model on an exotic beach, but then realize the light is not as soft or usable as you thought? In this video, learn how you can sculpt the natural light the way you want to create the most flattering results.

Getting started in macro photography isn’t too daunting. And once you've acquired the basic equipment, you'll always be looking for tiny subjects to experiment with — let us show you a few for inspiration.

Do you ever have a crazy, elaborate idea, but don't have the budget to pull it off? In this DIY breakdown look, see how you can create the famous Game of Thrones look on a miniscule budget with just the things lying around your house.  

In the world of Instagram and social media, what we see, is a lot of times not as it really seems. The line between what is real and what is fake is quickly blurring. In this article, go behind the scenes with instagram photographer, Calob Castellon and see how he creates captivating portraits using nothing more than a camera, and a little bit of creativity.

Having a low budget is not a restraint for making a great looking film. In our hands we have recording devices that have been a dream for young filmmakers in the past. In this video you will learn several tricks that will help you overcome your budget limitation achieving the same effect on your audience as if you had more resources to make it "for real."

We live in a digital photo era but that doesn't mean that your old photos and negatives boxed up in the attic should be forgotten. The first step in preserving these is to get them organized. Next, you need to digitize old photos so they can be easily viewed and shared with others. 

Sometimes shooting on location, or even finding the ideal location, can be so difficult that a photographer has to rely on their own ingenuity to bring their vision to life. Here is how I turned my tiny bathtub into a forest pond for a magical shoot, with some tips on how you can do the same thing. 

Martin Fitzpatrick has built one of the most interesting cameras we've ever seen: one that displays the captured image by drawing it on an Etch a Sketch. 

Building a shooting space in your home can be difficult to say the least. For most photographers, a home studio is never large enough and every inch of space becomes a commodity. In this video we show you perhaps the easiest and cleanest way to hang seamless paper in your studio space. 

Posing tables are one of those accessories you don't know you need until you get one, and then, you cannot live without it. The only problem: its cost. So, let's see how you can build a DIY version for under $60. 

I like beer. I like film. I like beer and film together, especially when you can process film with beer! 

Have you ever noticed that your camera's autofocus is consistently back or front-focused? It may not be your fault. Check out this review and how-to on calibrating lenses using the Datacolor SpyderLensCal.

Our new studio in Puerto Rico had so much echo that it was ruining the audio in all of our videos. I'm happy to say that we have finally figured things out, and we've learned a few things that might help you as well.  

Making a camera is difficult. But making a camera from scratch, without the help of a laboratory, a whole team of engineers, and needing to source all of the raw elements yourself is nearly impossible. 

Water dripping down the side of a beer bottle, splashing around a shampoo bottle, or sparkling on a flower petal are staples of product photography, but creating water effects in a controlled environment doesn't have to be difficult or expensive.