DIY Beauty Dish
It’s been a while since I tackled a DIY project, so I figured I was coming due. For a while now I’ve had my eye on a beauty dish, with just the $100 price tag holding me back. In all honesty, that’s pretty good, as photography gear goes. But each time I went to add [...]
Mid-day Shooting
Nature/landscape photographers tend to become creatures of the twilight. It only makes sense, seeing as the light is best for those few soft hours at the start and end of the day. Mid-day is shunned as shooting time and is instead given over to other necessities – breakfast (pancakes!), editing, and siestas. And for the [...]
Tripod? Don’t need no stinkin’ tripod!
No tripod for these photos, since using one would have killed the look I was going for, which could have an artsy-fartsy title like “Abstract Pines at Sunset.” This is what happens when I step into the abstract side of nature photography; so much of the time I (and I suspect most other photogs) strive [...]
DIY Multi-Speedlite Mounting Bracket 2
Right now my last blog post, where I shared my Rubbermaid-based DIY flash bracket, is getting all the attention – mostly because DIYPhotography.net featured it yesterday (which is way cool, by the way!). And although I was somewhat amazed that the thing actually worked, I don’t have a lot of faith in it’s ability to [...]
DIY Multi-Speedlite Mounting Bracket
Today, following a trip to the hardware store/Lowes, I’ve got my own DIY multi-flash Speedite Mount. DIY dual mounts are pretty common these days, and there are a couple of tri-mount units commercially available. Sadly, a DIY 4x mount is still a pipe dream; mine can only handle 3x Speedlites. But what the hell, I [...]
Sweet 16 – or, the Dreaded Party Venue
Sunday was my girlfriend’s cousin’s Sweet Sixteen party. Long about time for the group photo I stepped in to help out, in the process putting myself square in that always-painful situation; shooting in the Dreaded Party Venue. You know the one I mean. The church hall, the school gym, the community center. The name changes [...]
DIY Flash Bracket
Last time I posted, it was regarding my designs for a DIY version of a flash bracket I’d found online. Well, a few hours between Lowes and Home Depot, about $30 out of pocket, and here it is: It’s simple, it’s cheap, and it does the job very well. And best of all, it requires [...]
Speedlite Flash Bracket
Came across the CheetahStand site the other day while researching some options for Speedlite compatible softboxes. Their gear looks impressive – I’m especially tempted by their octobox, which is something I’ve long lusted after. But what caught my attention right away was this: the Cheetah Speed Pro Bracket. Pretty ingenious – by mounting the Speedlite [...]
Small studio? No problem!
Some days you just want to kick yourself for being dense. There was an active thread on FredMiranda.com the other day, asking about using a 20×20 foot room as a studio space. Now as studios go, 20×20 is rather small (think bedroom sized), and the challenges of making photos in there become more pronounced. Nevertheless, [...]
Bird Studio – What kind of bird feed?
As interesting as the final results of a project such as a bird studio are, I’m always equally fascinated by the things I learn along the way. This project has been especially enlightening in little ways. For instance, bird feed. I always assumed that bird feed was bird feed – that there really wasn’t much [...]
