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Create Wonderful Sliced Fruit Images

The following sliced fruits shots tutorial is by photographer and artist William van der Steen.

The tutorial will take you step by step toward creating an image similar to that wonderful sliced up banana.

here we go

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Smarten Up Your Dumb Optical Slave By Hooking it Up With Arduino

Optical Slaves are the simplest (and cheapest for the most part) method for using off camera flashes.

The principle is simple, when the optical slave sees another flash fire, it fires too. Kinda like yawning. Once one of goes, it is catchy.

Of course optical slaves have their limitations, one of which is that they are too dump to understand the difference between a flash and a pre-flash. There are a few more limitations to optical dumb slaves, but this post is about overcoming the pre-flash issue with a cool gizmo called Arduino.

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DIYP Got a New Look

I am very happy to announce the new look of DIYP. If you are reading this via RSS, you may want to click though and see the new design.

Over the last few weeks I have been working with the great team at cre8d design to give DIYP a new look.

The fact of the matter is that since I originally installed Drupal on the site, I ever changed the default theme. It is a great theme, however it did not allow for some of the features I wanted for DIYP.

The team at cre8d did a very nice job of creating a new theme that makes better use of the space the page has to offer, as well as allow for some community features.

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Create Seamless White Portraits In Your... Anywhere

I've had it happen when I heard a veteran photog telling another, "This one? You cannot do this one, you don't have the gear".

Now, as the name of the site suggests, this is not what I consider a good answer. A better answer would be a breakdown of the shoot, trying to get some understanding of what is a must for it, what gear is needed and how can we make up for the gear we don't have. Maybe with another piece of gear; maybe in post; and maybe by changing one of the underlying assumptions that we initially had when thinking about the shoot.

Photographer Scott Bourke (flickr) shows this exact king of thinking in his Sportraits session. There is a nice how to video and then some thoughts. I'd love to hear your take on dealing with gear shortage in the comments.

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The External Flash Power That Will Last Till Hell Freezes

UPDATE: IanW has a good point in the comments that flashes can go thermal on you. He is right. pop to hard and too fast and you will over hit. "Fire a flash too frequently with this setup and you will destroy it due
to overheating, unless it's got a thermal cutout (most don't)."

UPDATE 2: if you're gonna do this, make sure you're doing this on a 6V flash, i.e. 4 AA batteries. This will fry your flash if it is a 3V flash (2 AAs)

We write quite a bit about portable strobes. If you've been around for a while you may remember an older version of those strobes. The Sunpak family. While I have not used them myself (too young, sorry), those behemoth shoot at a staggering GN of 48 (meters) and have the look and feel to support it. That makes them ideal for sun swamped on location lighting. The nice thing is that they are old enough to be bought at ridiculously low prices second hand.

The following post about portable power source for small flashes (and Sunpak 611 in particular) is written by John Hagar (blog).

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Light Tents

Photographer Peter Karlsson has it all worked out when it comes to travel light. Peter is a Strobist at heart and as such he is using small flashes quite a bit. The coolness comes in when you see how he places his flashes in space.

Instead of your orthodox light stand solution Peter uses a home brewed light stand made of tent poles. Those are great for travel for several reasons: There are super light-weight, they fold small and they will definitely make your subject go WOW! Luckily for photographers wold wide there are two vids available that shows how those light stands were made.

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Protect Your Camera From Rain Using An Old Pair Of Rain Trousers

When it comes to protecting your camera from the elements we already know that a condom will go a great way. However, sometimes a more subtle approach is needed. Especially if all you are seeking is to protect your camera from a bit of rain.

The following guest post about creating a camera rain cover from trousers is made by Matti Hassinen.

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The Best Invention Since The Invention Of The Power Cord

The following guest post about the best invention since the invention of the power cord (and saving space while traveling) is made by Simon Williams of Simon James Williams Photography.

You’ve been looking for something that will change your photography forever, something you’ve never quite been able to put your finger on, the “Zen” some people say that you have been looking for.

You have the best camera that your wife (or husband) will allow – in fact you’ve got more mega-pixels at your disposal that the Hubble space telescope. You are in more debt than the Lehman Brothers website designer because of it.

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Create Great Light Painting Imagery Using Fireworks

Hello again! It’s Dana, twin cities brightest, back again with more tricks for light painting photography.

I hope you have all been practicing because it’s time to deal with the unruly beast - fireworks.

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Light Tent And Paper Binders - Refolded

Today @AM time I discussed a light tent made from virtually nothing but coroplast and binders. (Not the previous supermarket-box-light-tent took more products to make).

Then I saw a variation on that theme by Nathan Moroney that used nothing but paper binders to create a very similar light same tent.

Now, if you think that coroplast tent was frugal, this one is on the fringe of being made from pure nothing. (Link and musing after the jump).

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Create a Flat-Fold Light Tent Using Coroplast

Light tents (also called light boxes) are a great way to shoot a product. They eliminate harsh reflections and create appealing highlights. This specific light tent from Robert Miler has a nice twist since it can fold flat for storage.

It is all Robert from after the jump

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Two Flashes Are Better Than One + Simple DIY Multi-Flash Bracket Tutorial

I guess this should go without saying, but I am going to say it anyhow: two flashes are better than one. Now you must be wondering why?

For starters, two flashes will get you a higher score on the GAS scale. (G.A.S. stands for Gear Acquisition Syndrome). This alone is a good reason to get two. But there are lighting oriented reasons as well. For some tech talk and a multi flash bracket tutorial, hit the jump.

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Valentines Special: Couples Album

With Valentines just around the corner and all, I thought I'd share one of the wedding gifts wifey and I got about seven years ago when we got married. Amongst all the gifts, this gift is the one single gift that helped us hold our marriage through some very rough times. Really, I cannot over estimate it one bit.

That said, it is full of commitment so only give it if you're OK with smelling your current significant other's morning breath for the rest of your life. If you are that serious, hit the jump for more details.

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Seven Easy DIY Projects To Super Ramp Your Photography Studio

We all love getting our hands dirty with studio lighting equipment. Here is everything you'll need to get a studio going. All the modifiers are DIYed so mark the next few weekends as taken. Click each image to get to the relevant project page.

DIY Beauty Dish

A Beauty Dish is a flash modifier used commonly in fashion
photography. It has a great combination of soft light and fast light fall
off. When you look at it closely, however, you find out that it is
nothing more than a terracotta bowl and a plastic jar (or a small car
mirror). By Mr. Embrey.

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Hooking My Little One On Photography - Vtech Kidizoom Review

There is only one way that will allow you to take a ton of photography gear on a family trip and get away with it. Hook your family on photography.

My wife is a lost cause, so I decided to try and lure my 5 years old daughter into the photography dark side. I got her a camera. Specifically, the Vtech Kidizoom Plus Pink Digital Camera. Below you can find my reasons for getting this camera as well as my thoughts and review. I would also love to hear your thoughts about getting a camera for your little one, share them in the comments.

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Low On Budget? Consider A Desk Lamp + Softbox

If you read this blog long enough, you know I am a big fan of small strobes. They are portable, relatively cheap, can squeeze some intense light and great for on the go. Key words for this post are relatively cheap.

While you can buy used SBs on eBay for a bit over $100 or a LumoPro for a similar price, you are still in for more than a $100 for lights.

Just saw photog Andy Game setup which has a great answer to the money issue.

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Frame Your Pictures To Smell Good

It was this time of the year when my wife decided I need a new scent. It happens every now and then. This is a fundamental difference about the two of us. It takes me so long to get use to a new fragrance that I rarely want to make a switch. Wify, however, want a refreshing hubby twice a year, so fragrance shopping we go.

This year's winner is Adventure By Davidoff. Not sure she liked the fragrance as much as she liked the fact that Ewan McGregor was on the cover sleeve of the box.

Good thing he was too. He reminded me of an exercise we used to do on my photo club. (Really, you don't have to do it with Ewan McGregor, but it adds so much more fun to the exercise that you really don't want any other model).

As you may have guessed from the title of this post this exercise is all about framing.

You will need a camera, and a cardboard box. Ewan McGregor is optional, but hard to resist.

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Some Nasty Car Rigs

A while back we had an amazing post about building a DIY camera car rig to take incredible images of cars. This is a common method for car photographers to get in camera smoothness.

Not a long while ago BMW created a series of promotional short films called "The hire" it's all about Clive Owen driving some fancy cars in impossible situations with impossible passengers. A real treat if you like this kind of movies.

Now the cool thing is that BMW has a BTS film where you can understand some of the howthehelldidtheyshootthis scenes and sequences. Movie, pointers and some DIY after the jump.

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Never Ever Lose Your Lens Cap Again

Here is an interesting question - please hit me in the comments with your answer -  Where do you put the lens cap when you are shooting? (My answer at the end of the post, if you care).

I use to lose them all the time, which was no biggie. Then Nikon started to ship their lenses with fancy lens caps and losing one cost an arm and a leg. (OK, really just a finger nail, yet...).

I got a mail from Benny Johansson telling me about his newest invention. The invention that make your lens cap never to go away.

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PVC Studio Lights With An Attitude

Mechanical Mashup is a site to my taste. It is a new and fresh pod/video cast thing with great DIY tutorials. Lots of Photography, but also other fun hacks and ideas for the DIY lovers. And to top sugar with chocolate, you got to love those guys attitude.

One of their latest creations is a video describing how to build a PVC and coroplast continuous light system. (Videos, yup plurals,  after the jump).

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Fencing For Background

As many of you know, I moved to a new place a few months back. (And took down a ten ton wall when doing so). Now remember that story about Thomas Sawyer and the fence?

It starts as Tom got a punishment to whitewash his fence on Saturday. Bummer. However, Tom finds a clever way to both avoid the task and profit from it. He pretends that this whitewashing is so much fun that his friends want to take part in the mission. But our clever Tom, he charges his friends to whitewash the fence. How cool is that?

Anyhow, my story is kinda similar. I got the task from my wife, which is similar. But in my story none of friends paid me to build the fence and there's a very nice dinner involved.

While putting is fence up is definitely DIY, you must be asking yourself what it has to do with photography. Find out after the jump.

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The Strobist Corner: Attention Pocketwizard Flex TT5 Users

The fact that Pocketwizard have a new TTL enabled unit is old news. The Flex TT5 and Flex TT1 have been shipping for almost a year now.

In the beginning the Flex units were having some hard time dealing with radio interference coming from some of the Canon flashes. This interference comin from the Canon flashes had impact both on distance and reliability of the TTX units.

The good news: Pocketwizard made a 580 radio-frequency-blocking-beer-holder for the delinquent Canon flashes. They go by the code name AC5 (I can only guess that it stands for Allocation Control, or Algorithmic Collision. Go figure).

The even better news: Pocketwizard decided to provide them AC5s shields free of charge to US photographers who bought the Flex units.

The not so good news: If you are living outside of the US, this offer is not for you. Other thing is that the AC5s will be free only till the end of the month.

Good news again: photographer Daniel Aqua posted a DIY tutorial on the Flickr pool that shows how to build a Canon shield at home.

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Getting a Handle on Your Compact Flash Cards

The following idea about making flash cards accessible to nails-challenged photographers is a guest post by Zaug one of the world's leading "your own bokeh" photographers.

I am quite happy with almost every aspect of my Sony alpha 850 and 900 DSLRs; one of the particular things I like is their size, especially with the addition of the vertical grips, they are a nice comfortable fit for my rather large-ish hands; not huge just larger than average.

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Strobist Gel Collection Winners Announced

Thanks for everyone who took part on the Strobist Gel Collection giveaway from Rosco.

One thing that giveaway thought me was never to ask for notes on a picture of a doll that seems to have a lightstand attached to one of its sensitive parts. No dolls were heart while making this cheat sheet. Trust me. The notes on the image, however were hilarious, check them out here. Winners after the jump.

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Creative Gel Cheat Sheet + Giveaway

After reviewing the Rosco Strobist gel collection, I just had to take it for an intense spin.

Since one of the main uses I see for this kit is the ability to color objects and backgrounds for creative effects, I did a little matrix of colors. (I am a computer geek, I know).

As with all the other cheat sheets on the site, I will go through the idea, the setup and end with a creative commons statement. Unlike the other cheat sheets, we are also going to have a Rosco Strobist gel collection giveaway. That stuff is near the end of the post.

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