Latest Update: Added a link to the Ice Cooler Lightbox.
Simple tips, tricks and hacks to enhance your photography without damaging your bank balance…
Still Photography
Camera Modifications
- Making a single-use digital camera reuseable, thanks to Lifehacker - not a bad solution if you need a camera cheap enough to take anywhere, but it looks like there’s a bit of work involved. Might still be better to just pick up a very cheap second hand camera.
- How about leather-coating your camera? Blue has - in blue leather, of course, and it looks pretty damn cool. There’s no actual wrappings for Panasonic cameras from cameraleather, so presumably some sort of trickery was involved, but the result looks good.
- Love your DSLR, but wish it was a bit more, well, crappy? Well, now you can get Holga results from an expensive new digital camera, by attaching a Holga lens to either a Nikon D50 or a Canon EOS. I think I’d prefer to get good results if I had an EOS, but there you go. Some people are just weird. (D50 link via Make:, EOS link via the D50 link.)
- 3 Ways to Mod a Single Use Camera. Via Make:.
DIY Equipment
- Ice Cooler Lightbox - the easiest DIY lightbox yet.
- Printable Lens Hoods - a site full of templates for easy and cheap DIY lens hoods. Templates for all the major makes. Via Photojojo via Craftzine
- Make your own Muslin Background. If you’re photographing people indoors (in your ‘studio’), you don’t want to be snapping them against a magnolia-painted wall. This simple howto shows you a way to make a background from a sheet of muslin and some dye. It’s just a tie-dye job, really, but the result doesn’t look too much like a hippy t-shirt.
- Going out in the rain? You can always just wrap your camera in a plastic bag. It’s not perfect, but it’ll keep a few raindrops at bay, and it’s cheaper than buying a pro camera with fully sealed buttons and doors.
- Lens Hood - A lens hood made from a plastic bottle. Via Make:
- DIY PVC Light Box/Light Tent/Mini Photographic Studio - How to make a light box with interchangeable backdrops for stunning professional effects. Via Make:, via DIY:happy.
- Flash Mounted DIY Softbox - Made with card, paper and a small piece of silk. Via Make:
- Wackiest Hot-Shoe Attachment - Get happy portraits every time with this simple attachment. Via Make:
Lighting
- Another DIY Light Tent, from Digital Photography School - a very good clear explanation, with plenty of pictures.
- A post on The Fountain Pen Network on using a DIY light tent and work lights for photographing pens or other small objects.
- DIY Copper Pipe Light Box - A lightbox made from copper piping. Translation from the french page here. Via Make:
- Super Simple Light Tent - Great idea, a light tent made out of a cardboard box. Via Make:
- Cheap DIY Homemade Reflector Stand - made out of PVC pipe and mounted on a tripod. Good idea. Via Make:.
- A Budget DIY Lighting System - using perspex off-cuts, a clothes rail from IKEA and a high power work lamp. Via Make:.
- DIY Homemade Flash Mini-Bouncer - A bouncer for a hotshoe flash using heavy photo paper and velcro. There’s something quite pleasing about photo paper being used to make camera equipment, I like that. Via Make:
DIY Accessories
- Home Made Wooden Tripod via Make: - not sure how good it is, but it’s very pretty.
- Got a narrow neck strap, and wish it could be tightened up to double as a wrist strap? See my dad’s Strap Hack for a way to do just that with just a bit of cable insulation.
- DIY Digital Photo Frame - Great idea. A digital photo frame using an old laptop and the flickr RSS Feed. Via Make:
Tips
- DIY Photography on the Cheap - An article aimed at anyone who needs to get some reasonably professional pictures taken without actually hiring a professional.
Video and Film
- Table Dolly via Make: magazine - probably only useful in certain situations, but a whole lot cheaper and smaller than a full size dolly. Plus, you could actually be the ‘Dolly Grip’ in the credits.
- DIY “Fig Rig” a video camera stabiliser made from PVC Piping. A cheaper DIY alternative to Manfrotto’s version. Via Make:.
- $40 Steadicam.
