Paul Kohlhaussen, a student from Richmond in London has created a fully functioning 3D printed camera. Paul took the best features from an array of costly high-end cameras and reverse engineered them into the camera of his dreams. Without the funds to afford the camera he needed to get the perfect shot he wanted and no knowledge of CAD, Paul taught himself everything from scratch when designing and building the eight components that make up the camera’s modular design....

Shooting an evenly lit portrait in backlight is a bit of a challenge. Photographer Daniel Ceapă has created a wonderful, balanced portrait in conditions like this using a two lights setup. He has shared his image and some BTS shots with DIYP, along with a detailed explanation how he took the photo. So, all of you searching for knowledge and inspiration in OCF portrait shooting, this will certainly be a valuable resource....

Watching nature documentaries like BBC’s Planet Earth gives us an insight into the world of all kinds of animals. We feel that we get to know their world and the way they act in their habitats. But how exactly realistic these documentaries are? Simon Cade from DSLRguide discusses this topic in his video. Are we looking the life of these animals as is, or it’s just a well-crafted, imaginary story aimed to entertain us?...

One does not think during creative work, any more than one thinks when driving a car. But one has a background of years – learning, unlearning, success, failure, dreaming, thinking, experience, all this – then the moment of creation, the focusing of all into the moment. – Edward Weston Creativity is, in some respects, intangible. It does not have a physical form. It cannot be distilled and sold in bottles....

Sometimes the autofocus on your lenses may not be exactly where you want it. Fortunately, it’s an easy fix as most modern cameras offer “micro adjustment” or “fine tune” option that lets you calibrate autofocus of attached lenses. You do need a calibration tool to do it, though. However, Karl Talyor offers you a simple calibration method without buying (or making) a special tool for it. In this video, he’ll show you how to do it for $0 and in just a few minutes....

Every great photograph consists of three key elements. First and foremost composition, lighting and of course the moment. Look at any great image and you’ll notice these elements. What part of the image caught your attention? More often than not, it will be the compositional structure that sets the scene. A poorly composed photo can make a fantastic subject dull, but a well-executed composition has the potential to turn an ordinary situation into something extraordinary....

Christmas may have come and gone, but winter is only just setting in. And with Winter comes the frosty photos and similarly chilled subjects. In this video from Photoshop wizard Nemanja Sekulic, we see a way to give any object a frozen look. Fantastic for those winter themed superhero shots. It is quite an involved process, and the video’s nearly 19 minutes long, but it’s very effective. Much of that time is taken up by accurately selecting around the objects you wish to freeze....

I can’t say for sure whether or not this tutorial includes any spoilers as I’ve not actually seen Avengers: Infinity War myself yet. But I would imagine there maybe are, even if it’s just spoiling an effect or two. It seems Thanos has some kind of pretty powerful “Super Punch” in the film (again, haven’t seen it, don’t know). Jordy Vandeput over at Cinecom has deconstructed the effect to bring us this tutorial on how to recreate it in Adobe Premiere Pro....

Filming myself is probably one of the more difficult things I’ve ever attempted to learn with a camera. It’s so easy when you’re filming other people when you have all of the camera’s controls at your fingertips and are able to quickly adjust. Filming yourself, though, is an entirely different set of skills. But they’re essential skills if you’re looking to start vlogging, which I have. I’m still no expert at it, and I still have a lot to learn....

When you first fall in love with photography, chances are you will photograph everything. And if you decide to turn this passion of your into business, this is when you need to narrow it down. In this video, Scott Choucino of Tin House Studio talks about photography style and niche: what they are, why they are important, and how you can find yours. Scott shares his knowledge and experience, which I’m personally very thankful for....

Street photography is a scary enough prospect on its own for many people. But to actually approach random strangers on the street and ask if you can shoot their portrait? That fills many with a fear akin to walking the plan over shark infested seas. You have to really push yourself to get outside of your comfort zone and do something you’re not happy with. And it can be a very difficult fear to get over....

The sun was on the horizon, a perfect orange ball. It was another beautiful sunset in Hoi An, Vietnam and we were out on a photo tour through a local village – taking advantage of the dreamy light. While the group spread out to take photos of people harvesting rice in the paddies, I noticed one of my students walking back toward me. She appeared hunched over in defeat. “What’s going on?...

Recently, Fenchel and Janisch made a pretty cool flow motion video in Frankfurt (above). It was made for the Steigenberger Frankfurter Hof hotel, to show off some of the beauty and life of downtown Frankfurt. This type of video is becoming very common as the hardware and software tools are becoming more available to photographers and filmmakers. But how can you make one of your own? Such films require a variety of techniques, and the workflow that works best for you will depend on the gear and software you have....

I have been looking into shooting other sports outside of the motorsport world and I have been particularly interested in soccer, basketball, and baseball. After doing some research, I found that some sports shooters covering these type of events use different remote trigger setups such as foot pedals and cable release buttons. When I setup remotes, I usually have the PocketWizard with me, and one mounted to the remote camera and I press the test button on the PocketWizard to fire the remote camera....

Double exposures have been around for years, but they seemed to disappear when digital came along. But Nikon DSLRs have had the capability for over a decade now, and Canon have recently started implementing it, too. It’s a fantastic technique to experiment with, although it takes a lot of practise, skill and a little luck to really get the results you’re after. To help make things a little more reliable, though, you can also make them in Photoshop....

Halloween is just around the corner, so you may want to make some scary photos or videos for the occasion. Jordy Vandeput of Cinecom.net shows you five lighting setups inspired by famous horror movies and series, and you can recreate them all using a single light source. The guys from Cinecom used Aputure 120D to create all five lighting setups. They are mainly aimed at video, but some of them can be used for photography as well, f you want to make some scary (self)portraits....

“Please could you tell me how to make money from photography?” This is a question I get asked quite often by email, a majority are students entering their adult working life and trying to figure it all out. And yet I don’t think it’s the right approach when pursuing any passion to obsess about making money. Get a full-time job first to pay the bills, that’s my main advice. but don’t do it so long that it poisons your creativity, individuality and drive as there’s a very real risk of that happening....

Making custom bokeh for your lenses can be a fun project. Usually, photographers do it by crudely cutting shapes out of a piece of black card and taping it to the end of our lens. But this method doesn’t allow for a lot of detail or intricacy. There’s also the Bokeh Masters Kit, which comes with some interesting laser cut custom shapes, and a few spare discs to make your own....

Photographing wild animals from up close can be a difficult or even impossible task. Some of them are dangerous and you’d put yourself into danger if you approach them. The others, on the other hand, could be shy and won’t show themselves if there’s a human nearby. Wildlife photographer Will Burrard-Lucas has come up with tech that overcomes these challenges. He has designed a few products that make it easy to photograph dangerous and shy animals from up close, without coming anywhere near them....

To shoot directly into the sun is both challenging and fun. Challenging because it can be difficult to control the light and, not least, our images are very often marred by sunflare. One simple way of avoiding flare is to shoot an extra exposure with one finger or more obscuring the sun. Admittedly, it happens that I forget to follow that simple step, or I am too lazy or I believe that clouds or mist sufficiently diffuse the light so that the lens won’t produce any flare....