Your DSLR might be great, but fancy image sensors aren’t the only [...]]]>

Your DSLR might be great, but fancy image sensors aren’t the only way to capture a spectacular image. A host of artists are producing great photography without hitting a single button. Their secret? Chemicals. Powerful chemicals. And serious talent.

The trick behind the cam-less captures is actually pretty simple—photographic paper is coated with silver salts, which cast an image onto the light-sensitive surface. But that’s just the start. Each artist has his or her own variations, some of which are incredibly complex—incorporating water, broken glass, and sometimes their own bodies into the photographic process.

Susan Derges, for example, dunks her photographic sheets in the river and uses the moon and a flashlight to expose the image. The moon! It’s almost enough to make your cam sound like cheating, eh? And the results are terrific.

If that impresses you, then prepare for Floris Neususs, who uses entire human bodies at once. Depending on the model’s position, the image cast varies from clear to cloudy, and creates a remarkable effect.

The rest of the low tech approaches are equally impressive, and entirely unique. No disrespect to the digital cams we love so much, but there are some things you can only do the old fashioned way. [Digital Journal of Photography]

Steve Etchie

@etchie

Pasting Attributes

Steve Etchie

@etchie

Pasting Attributes

I thought I would start out a little more simply with one of my favorite features of Final Cut Pro. many people familiar with the software may not already be aware of this feature, but for those that don’t, this may be the greatest thing you discover and you won’t know how you ever went without it. Everyone is familiar with the term “Copy and Paste.” This feature does almost the same thing.

I went into Photobooth real quick and made two clips that are basically the same thing. One of me walking in the room and the other of me sitting at my desk, looking at the computer. I put both clips on the timeline and I decide to do a 3-way color correction on the first clip, as well as maybe zoom in just a bit. The webcam has obviously not changed and neither has any of the lighting conditions in the room changed since I decided to sit down. In such a case, all the filters and motion changes I applied, to be applied in exactly the same way to the second clip. Not a problem!

Nothing is really going to appear to happen but trust me, it worked. Right click once again on the second clip and you’re going to get the same pop up, where you will select “Paste attributes.”

The parts that are grayed out are those that don’t apply to the any of the effects you could possibly want to add to the clip. My favorite part of this feature is that you can be selective. Say you have decided you want the same color correction options but you don’t want to zoom in on the image for some reason. The box for basic motion refers to anything you find in the motion tab for your clip. This includes zooming. You mouldmake sure that box was unchecked if you didn’t want the zoom. Just about any time you use this feature you’ll probably be checking the filters box. This covers EVERYTHING you would add to your clips from the effects tab in your browser, including the 3-way color corrector.

Finally, I love this feature because it’s been around so long it doesn’t matter what version of Final Cut Pro you’re running, it’ll be there and it’ll look at exactly the same.

Thanks for reading!

Steve Etchie – Central Florida FCP certified viedo editor and podcast producer.

@etchie

If you’re looking to soften up your camera flash on the cheap—perhaps [...]]]>  

If you’re looking to soften up your camera flash on the cheap—perhaps because you were startled to see how unflattering direct flash is—this clever softbox turns a sheet of office paper into a lightweight flash diffuser.

DIY Photography reader Julian Schüngel created a template for folding a DIY version of the Lumiquest Softbox II. If you’re not frequently packing and unpacking your gear or you don’t use a large flash diffuser very frequently, making your soft box out of paper is an economical solution compared to the $40 Lumiquest product.

Julian’s DIY model comes in two flavors, the most basic is a single sheet of paper—seen in the photo above—and the more advanced requires two sheets of white paper and a black sheet of construction paper for increased control over light spill. You can grab a copy of his template at the link below.

The template is sized for A4 paper so if you’re printing on standard US office paper you should print it on Legal size paper to avoid dealing with the hassle of the length difference between A4 and Letter paper. For the curious, Letter size is .69 inches shorter and .23 inches wider than A4 paper where is Legal is 2.31 inches longer and .23 inches wider.

Have an inexpensive DIY alternative to a commercial product you’re itching to share? Let’s hear about it in the comments.

Send an email to Jason Fitzpatrick, the author of this post, at jason@lifehacker.com.

Turn a Sheet of Paper into a Simple Flash Softbox: “”

(Via .)

Like the look of tilt-shift photography but don’t have a camera you can [...]]]>

Like the look of tilt-shift photography but don’t have a camera you can attach a DIY lens to? Try out previously reviewed TiltShift and TiltShitMaker to try your hand at faking tilt-shift photos. Have a favorite photography-related DIY project to share? Let’s hear about it in the comments.

DIY Tilt-Shift Photography Guide Makes DIY Lens Selection Simple: “”

(Via .)