Here is my version of the soda bottle tripod. It uses just a few cheap pieces of hardware:
- a short, course-threaded 1/4 inch bolt with a matching nut
- a 20oz or 2L pop top
- one rubber grommet or washer
Drill, smash, or chew a hole through the center of the bottle top and thread the bolt through:
Tighten up the nut, make sure the bolt is perpendicular to the bottle top:
Jam on the rubber grommet washer thing, and you're done. Just throw the bottle top in your pocket next time you take your camera out with you. Whenever you need a tripod, screw the bottle top into your camera, screw the bottle top onto any soda bottle you find lying around, and take some steady shots.
Please do not use this photography tip (except on halloween)
WARNING: not recommended for children under 13
http://photojojo.com/content/diy/iphone-as-softbox/
SLRs can seem daunting with all the isos, white balances, apertures, shutter speeds... It is easy to just fall back to the little green "auto" setting on the dial, but you end up wasting your camera's potential (and your dollars, frankly). If you are a newbie to higher end cameras, check out this informative primer on DSLRs at Lifehacker.com.
Shooting with a tripod, but still getting blurry shots? Want to take exposures longer than the maxium exposure setting on your camera? Easy (and cheap).
With a wired handsfree headset made for cell phones you can make your own shutter trigger. I followed this simple instructable using stuff I had horded in a box under my bed.
At a public computer and the only app to edit photos is Paint? Don't fret, just use one of the many free online photo editing apps like Picnik.com, fotoflexer.com, or Adobe's PhotoShop Express. You have to register for PhotoShop Express, but it is a good choice for those familiar with the photoshop layout.
I heard about Scott Bourne's photography critique site scottcritiques.com while listening to the MacBreak Weekly podcast. Bourne is a professional photographer who is offering really good advice on improving your photography all for free. Check it out.
After cleaning one of my aquariums today I noticed two tiny baby guppies. At first I thought "yay!", then I thought "ohh... I hope I didn't suck any up while I was changing the water...". Oh well, no use crying over spilled fish.
I wanted to try to take a few pictures of the new additions. This turned out very difficult; the baby guppies are only a few millimeters thick. I decided to move onto an easier target. A large tetra or swordtail should be easy to take a picture of, right?
It seems aquarium photography is an art unto itself. I took a bunch of pictures that didn't turn out very well. A quick search brought me to wetwebmedia.com, a site with some simple tips for improving your fish pics.
Here are some pre-tip pictures. I'll post some improved photos at a later date (Friday?).
The grey fish is mom. The composition of this photo is really bad. The fish is just kinda floating in the center. I broke the rule of thirds in a bad way here. Plus the orange fish, the bright spots, and the black verticle line distract from the main focus (the grey guppy). Plus the fish is turing away.
This picture is a little better. With a little cropping the composition could be improved and many distractions removed. I like how the shallow depth of field blurs the other fish. The DoF is a little too shallow though; the tail of the front, main fish is out of focus.
This picture isn't terrible. The bright spot is distracting. I could have prevented this by turning off the flash, which I learned is a no-no from the linked web site. Also, the fish's tail is out of focus. With a little cropping and a little burning, I think this could be a nice picture.
Most cameras have a loop or two built into them for you to attach a carrying strap. My camera (a Canon Digital Rebel XSi) has them built on the top left and right of the camera body which often leaves the strap in my way, or worse, covering the lens. There are many after market straps you can buy to fix these problems. My favorite is the R-Strap by BlackRapid. There is one problem with this strap... it costs around $50. That's a little steep for a strip of fabric, a bolt, and two dog leash style hooks. Fortunately, all you need to make your own DIY R-Strap is a strip of fabric, a bolt, and two dog leash style hooks.
I got the idea to build my own strap from diyphotography.net's instructions. I got my strap off a cheap walmart camera bag. The rest I picked up at Lowes:
1. the shortest course theaded 1/4 inch bolt I could find
2. a small rubber washer
3. any metal strap that you can attach your strap you scavened off a cheapo camera bag. I used a strap made to hold flexible water tubing to a wall. All I had to do was drill a small hole in it.
Here it is attached to my camera.
One cool thing about this strap is that it is universal since it attaches to the camera using the standard tripod mount. You can even attach the strap to a simple point and shoot camera.
The utility of a strap like this on a camera that can you slip into your pocket is limited, but this picture shows the flexibility of this $5 DIY R-Strap.
One of the simplest ways to become a better photographer is to take lots and lots of pictures. This is easy to say, but often hard to keep at. So, what's a budding photographer to do? It's easier to keep taking photos when you have an objective and people to share those photos with. The Tech Guy flickr group does just that. Every few weeks a new assignment is given and followers of the group take pictures based on the assignment and post one for review by other group members. So sign up for a free flickr account, join the Tech Guy group, and start improving your photography!
Hello and welcome to my new blog. Don't mind the mess; this site is still a work in progress, so expect to see some changes and tweaks soon. Posts will mostly be photography or camera themed. Stay tuned for updates.
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