Active Photography Posts

How To: Make your own Variable-ND filter with cheap circular polarization filters

Looking for a Variable-ND filter without having to spend $300? There's a way that you can actually make your own for as little as $10-$20 using some cheap circular polarization filters! Instead of getting a picture tutorial, in this video, you will get a fully commentated walkthrough of the process that he uses to remove the lenses and more to create his own filter!

How To: Make 2D Pics Look Like 3D Objects Using This Optical Illusion Camera Trick

How do you make a plastic bottle sit on top of a Rubik's Cube without a Rubik's Cube? It may seem like a brain teaser, but it's more like something you would see in an Escher drawing. An optical illusion. A three-dimensional world trapped in a two-dimensional image, which is exactly what's going on in this Rubik's Cube illusion.

How To: Repair the write protection on an SD card

In this video tutorial, viewers learn how to repair the write protect on an SD card. An SD card is a non-volatile memory card format that is used in portable devices. If the write protect on a SD card is broken, the user cannot record any files onto the card. To fix this, viewers will need a small piece of scotch tape. Put the tape on the notch of the SD card. Do not cover the metal tabs at the back. This video will benefit those viewers who have a SD card and would like to repair the write p...

How To: Create a Light Painting Vortex Using a DIY Reusable Steel Wool Cage

There's no shortage of uses for steel wool, but the majority of them tend to be on the pyromaniacal side, like DIY fireworks. This trick by Mike Mikkelson is no different—it uses a homemade reusable "wool cage" to create a spinning vortex of light, like in the photo below. You can do this with just a piece of steel wool on a cable, but Michael wanted something he could easily reuse no matter how many shots he took, so he built a small cage to house the steel wool out of chicken wire, a small ...

How To: Take Perfect Selfies

The selfie craze has caught up and how! But sadly enough, not all of us know the tips and tricks to get it right. Watch this video if you're yet to master the art of clicking the perfect selfie.

News: Printer + Paper + Rubberband = Cheapest Camera in the World

Download. Print. Cut. Assemble. Install some 35mm film, and you're good to go. Who knew you could make a camera so cheaply? Well, a pinhole camera, that is.

How To: Turn a Styrofoam Bowl into a DIY Beauty Dish for Your Camera's Flash

A beauty dish is a device that redistributes the flash on your camera to make the lighting more flattering in portraits. It's called a "beauty dish" because it's used most commonly in fashion and beauty photography.

CES 2015: The CUBE Action Camera, Polaroid's Answer to the GoPro

Polaroid's answer to the masculine-fueled GoPro comes in the form of a tiny family-friendly square, fittingly named the Polaroid CUBE. Starting at a very modest $99.99 , the water-resistant action camera comes in all different colors, shoots HD video at 1080p, allows users to take 6MP pictures, and supports a microSD card of up to 32GB. Attached to the bottom of the cube is a magnet that allows you to stick the camera in many places, including the side of a car (though the Polaroid representa...

How To: Upcycle Your Old Jeans into a DIY Camera Stabilizer

Need a camera stabilizer, but don't have the cash? With an old pair of jeans, a bag of lentils, and an hour or two of your time, you can make one for cheap. Maybe even free, if you have a bag of those legumes already.

How To: Control Your Samsung Smart Camera with Your Android or iOS Device

Samsung is helping photographers in getting more utility out of their cameras with their new Samsung Smart Camera App. With it, your device becomes a powerful viewfinder for your Samsung camera, allowing you to not only frame shots, but control multiple aspects of the camera, right through your phone.

How To: This Easy Photo Trick Makes Fireworks Look Like Brilliant Sky Creatures

Anyone who does a lot of photography knows that the right exposure can make all the difference in the world. Taking a picture of something in motion requires a long exposure, so if you've ever wondered why your fireworks photos never quite turn out right, your shutter speed could be the key. Photographer David Johnson decided to put a twist on the classic long-exposure fireworks photo. Normally, when people take photos of fireworks displays, they just set a long exposure for somewhere over 3 ...

How To: Blur Fireworks with Your DSLR for Some Wicked July 4th Photos

Try "unfocusing" your photographs for some dreamy, evocative and somewhat abstract takes on life. Check out the two tutorials (here and here) from Michelle Geoga of Lights! Camera! Photoshop! for tips on unleashing the blur-power of your camera. You can see plenty of example images there to help you out.

How To: 5 Incredibly Cheap and Smooth DIY Camera Mounts for Inside or Outside of Your Car

Shooting a photo or video in a car can be rather difficult without a proper mount, and if you want to secure your camera outside the car, it can be just plain expensive. Luckily, there are tons of DIY camera mounts for both inside and outside your vehicle, and most of them are pretty cheap to make. Here are some of the best.

How To: Create Stunning Double Exposure Portraits with Your DSLR Camera (No Photoshop Required)

There are plenty of ways to take double exposure photos, even if all you have is your cell phone. If you have access to a darkroom (or Photoshop), you can do it by stacking negatives. But if you have the right kind of DSLR, you can do it right from your camera by using the multiple exposure setting.

How To: Add Creepy Apparitions to Your Halloween Photos Using the Pepper's Ghost Illusion

Photographers have been using the Pepper's Ghost Illusion for over a century to play up the level of creepiness in their photos. Many of the pictures that claim to be real "sightings" use this technique to project a ghostly figure into the background of their images. Today, it's still used in theatre, "scary" rides at amusement parks, and haunted houses all over the world, which makes it a great photography trick for Halloween time. As shown in the tutorial below by Make's Jason Poel Smith, t...

How To: Make Your Photos More Fun with These DIY Bokeh Effects Lens Filters for Your DSLR

In photography, bokeh refers to the blurry or out-of-focus parts of a shot. Bokeh can be good or bad—it all depends on how you use it. There are tons of ways to create a bokeh effect, whether you go the traditional route with lens filters, digital with Photoshop, or even from your iPhone. With filters, you can use the blurred spaces to produce different shapes and colors. If you have a DSLR and want to experiment with bokeh, this tutorial by Chris Perez over on Apartment Therapy will show you...

How To: Learn studio product photography tricks

This instructional photography video with Jim Talkington explores various studio photography tricks. Whether shooting products or people, the whole reason for studio lighting is to be able to define the things you want to define and to minimize the things you don't want to see in the photograph. Practice these tips and improve your photography skills.

How To: Take the Perfect Booty Selfie

Today you can be just like Kim Kardashian and take an awesome booty selfie. Taking a booty selfie is So Easy a Guy Can Do It!

How To: An Extensive Guide to Creating Bokeh Photography

Bokeh (which translates to "blur" in Japanese) is a photography technique referring to the blurred areas of a photograph. Basic bokeh photographs often have one point of focus, while the background falls away into a dreamy, blurred haze.

How To: Clean fungus off of your camera lens

Have you ever found a camera lens that you forgot you left in the basement or garage? Have you ever been shooting out in the rain and lost track of time? If any of these things have happened to your camera, you may have developed a fungus. Not to worry! It is much easier than you would think to clean a fungus off your camera. This tutorial will walk you through the process, step by step so that you clean your lens safely and perfectly every time.

DIY Photo Processing: How to Develop Film at Home for Cheap Using Coffee, Red Wine, or Tylenol

Not many people use film cameras anymore, so it can be hard to find the materials to develop your own photos at home since most local camera stores are closing. But it's actually relatively easy to make homemade developer, and you can make it with a few relatively common ingredients.

How To: Develop Black & White Film with Caffenol

If MacGyver ever needed to develop some black and white film, this is how he would do it. Check out this awesome recipe for film developer, which uses instant coffee, Vitamin C, and washing soda to set up your own darkroom developing lab.

How To: Take the Perfect Selfie, Oxford Dictionary's Word of the Year

Ladies and gentleman, it's official—"Selfie" has been named Word of the Year by Oxford Dictionaries.

Quick Tip: Use a Wired Headset as a Shutter Release Trigger for Your DSLR Camera

Whether you're trying to get an unconventional angle or just want to include yourself in the picture, there are plenty of times when a remote trigger can come in really handy. Of course, if you want to buy one, you have tons of options. But if you already have an Xbox 360 headset, all you have to do is plug it in. YouTube user Gurnarok accidentally found that by plugging his Xbox headset into his camera's remote port, the on/off toggle triggered the shutter release and flash.

How To: Do a Nighttime Halloween Photoshoot

Eric Levin is back! Check out his latest photography how-to video. It's basically a cool nighttime photoshoot session in the middle on New England forest, obviously featuring... Ice Nine Kills!

News: New York Times Photojournalism

Very interesting interview with the editors of the New York Times Lens Blog, a website which is totally dedicated to photojournalism and videojournalism.

How To: Take Photos at Night

Lighting is one of the most important features of good photography. American photographer Eric Levin has become somewhat of a favorite of mine, especially because his photography tips and tricks are a very helpful tool for all aspiring photographers.

How To: Do a "Punk Rock" Photo Shoot

This is a photography how-to video, where American photographer Eric Levin takes us on the set of a photo shoot with punk band Ice Nine Kills. This is a really good step-by-step "how-to" guide to the perfect photo of a music band.

How To: Photograph your dog or any other pet like a pro

Dogs and pets make beautiful portrait subjects, but they can be difficult to photograph. In this video, learn exactly how to set up your surroundings, lighting and camera to take your best animal picture. This tutorial will teach you a photography technique that you can use to photograph your pet in studio or at home using an inexpensive lighting setup. You can apply the same technique to shoot a cat, bunny, pig, pony, tiger.. anything!

How To: Properly Capture Images of Fireworks on Your Digital Camera

Fireworks are beautiful, but they can be extremely difficult to capture on digital cameras. This tutorial for digital photographers shows you how to optimize your DSLR camera's settings and use just the right techniques so you can get the most out of your next fireworks shoot.

How To: Photograph a Fireworks Show

As Fourth of July nears, you might be considering a fireworks show or two. Capturing the beauty of a firework spectacular on camera can be a tricky feat but luckily, there's help out in the world. In this Cameras Brookwood tutorial, learn how to photograph a fireworks show the right way.

How To: Make a Cheap Light Wand for Dark Photo Shoots Using PVC and Glow Sticks

Taking photos in the dark or in low-light settings can be tricky. Just using your normal flash can make your subject look washed out, but not using it can result in a totally dark photo with no subject at all.

How To: Stop Saying "Cheese"! Here's How You Smile More Naturally for Photos

I hate having my picture taken. It's awkward, and I almost always end up thinking, "Is that what I look like all the time?" Most of us think we look awful in photos, probably because we all subconsciously act and carry ourselves a little differently when we know there's a camera on us.

Light Painting with Fire: How to Capture the Perfect, Most Badass Wall of Flames Photo

You may remember this badass wall of flames photo... That's because last month I highlighted a tutorial by photographer Barry Elder that showed how to light paint with fire.

How To: This Clever DIY Contraption Lets You Capture Exploding Balloons Without a High-Speed Trigger

There are some pretty incredible camera techniques out there, but the biggest problem that amateur photographers run into is that they don't have the equipment to try them. You can still get some great shots, but there are some things that are really hard to do if you don't have the money to drop on expensive lenses and accessories.

How To: Use a Video Projector for Long-Exposure Light Painting in the Snow

There's no shortage of techniques when it comes to light painting—you can use LEDs, flashlights, or even make your own light painting nunchuks. If you want to do something a little different, though, why not use a projector like photographer Brian Maffit did to capture these gorgeous long-exposure shots of a recent snow storm? Maffitt used a projector to play the movie The Lorax onto a tree in his backyard, providing the backdrop for these photos. The long exposure shots were taken using an o...

How To: Need More Juice from Your DSLR? These 2 Battery Hacks Will Keep the Power On Longer

For most people, the battery life on a DSLR is more than sufficient, but if you want to do a really long exposure or time-lapse, one charge might not last long enough to get the shot you want. You can always connect it to an extension cord to charge while you shoot, but that can be really annoying to work around.

How To: Build a Double-Shoulder Camera Mount for Only $8 Using PVC

Shoulder mounts are great for stability, but they can be pretty pricey. This DIY project by TheJamesTheatre is better in both aspects—it rests on both shoulders for extra stability, and it only costs 8 bucks to make. The frame is made of PVC with foam pieces from a pool noodle for cushion. All you need is a few connectors and the nuts and bolts to put it all together. You can find the full parts list on the About section on YouTube.

Light Painting with Fire: How to Create a Badass Wall of Flames!

Believe it or not, capturing a beautiful shot of a vehicle is more difficult than you think. Sure, you can just snap a photo, but capturing the design, detail, and essence of the car is a whole other story. Lighting, location, settings, and angles are play into how well the photographic representation turns out.

How To: Keep Track of Your Disappearing Camera Lens Cap Using LEGOs!

Lens caps are one of those necessary evils that serve a very useful purpose while still creating tons of headaches for users—who hasn't lost at least a few? Sure, you can always buy a holder for it, or just shove it in your pocket, but if you have some LEGOs lying around from your distant youth, you can make your own in just a few minutes.