Walk into most professional photographer’s studios and you’ll be confronted with truckloads of lighting equipment. To the average hobby photographer it’s enough to make your mind boggle – and for your stomach to turn as you think about the cost of it all.

Most of us can’t afford a full lighting rig – however what if there was a way to experiment with the type of lighting gear that pro photographers use without spending too much money? What if you could make it yourself.

In this post I’ve found 10 DIY Flash and Lighting Hacks that put some of these lighting techniques within the grasp of the rest of us. Some are more involved than others but all are fun and will provide you with some new lighting gear to experiment with.

1. Multi-Super-SB-Ring Light

What can you make with six speedlight flashes, a coffee can and a little spare time?

You get a multi-super-sb-ring-light! (pictured left).

You could probably also blind a small village if you’re not careful!

Find out what it is, how to make one and what the results are like here.

This one looks like a lot of fun to play with – even if it’s just for the challenge of it and the looks you’d get when you pull it out next time you do a shoot..

2. Poor Mans Ring Flash

All you need for this one (pictured left) is a used milk bottle/jug and some scissors.

The result is that you’ll have a Poor Mans Ring Flash.

A ring flash is one that fits around the lens – it creates a wonderfully unique lighting effect. They will usually lighten your wallet by a couple of hundred dollars.

It’s so simple that I whipped one up for myself today in 5 minutes.

It worked out pretty good too – not bad for the cost of a couple of liters of milk!

If you want to experiment with other methods of making DIY ring flashes you also might want to check out this post for another method. This one is a little more involved, but I think will probably get better results.

Subscribe to our newsletter to get more weekly Digital Photography tips like this

3. Inexpensive Light Tent

Have you ever wanted to replicate the crisp clean product images that you see in catalogs with the products seemingly floating on a white background?

If you do – you need some kind of light tent/light box.

As usual, light boxes can cost you quite a bit – but thanks to DPS reader Jeffrey Bail you might be able to achieve the results without having to spend much at all.

In our Inexpensive Light Tent tutorial Jeffrey shows you how to turn a box, fabric, tape, glue board and light into a great little light tent.

4. Party Bouncer Card

Another cool DIY Hack is this Party Bouncer Card (pictured left) which is so simple yet promises to be so useful and effective.

This one is for those of you with a camera which doesn’t have the capability for an off camera flash.

It allows you to bounce some light off the ceiling while also diffusing the light going forward – this will enable you to get a less harsh flash effect that many flashes leave images with. I like this one as it pushes the light out from your flash in two directions which can lead to a more even light rather than just diffusing it – a little more sophisticated.

Another quick DIY on diffusing a flash is to put a little translucent magic tape over a flash (or a piece of white tissue paper can do it too).

Any of these methods will decrease the amount of light getting out from the flash onto your subject – hopefully resulting in a more subtle light and a less blown out image.

5. Turkey Pan Beauty Dish

Beauty dishes are wonderful pieces of photographic equipment to experiment with – but they can be very expensive.

Not any more (at lest if you use this DIY trick).

In this hack learn how to use a simple Turkey Pan to get some pretty amazing beauty dish results! The comparison examples in this tutorial between the turkey pan version and the real thing are pretty convincing.

I must remember to add Turkey Pans to this week’s shopping list.

Check out this tutorial here.

6. DIY Ghetto Flash Extender

I’d not heard of this type of device before – but since I found this tutorial I’ve discovered a number of photographers who for one reason or another want to be able to extend the reach of their flash.

This is particularly useful for wildlife photographers who want to supplement natural light in tricky lighting with fill flash. Of course sometimes it’s difficult to get close to that animal and a normal flash would have no impact.

Enter the Flash Extender (one popular one is the ‘better beamer’).

Want to make one for yourself? This tutorial for the DIY Ghetto Flash Extender will tell you how.

7. Disposable Camera Flash Slave

Lately I’ve had more and more questions from readers about how to set up shots with multiple flash units to light a subject from more than one angle.

It’s not difficult to do if you have the budget to buy yourself an extra speedlight flash or two (or more) but if you don’t have the budget is there a way?

In this tutorial and author shows you how to use a disposable camera to act as a remote slave flash.

OK – this tutorial isn’t for anyone looking for a quick simple solution – but it is a challenge that I’m sure some of you will be up for!

8. Flash Mounted DIY Softbox

Another way that professional photographers diffuse the light that comes from a flash and gets a nice subtle and even light on their subject is to use a softbox

A softbox sits over a light (it’s a big box with white walls) which ensures the light is spread out evenly.

This DIY Softbox tutorial is great – it requires card, a white sheet (silk if you can), velcro, scissors, glue and the template that the tutorial provides you with.

The results look pretty good – but if you want more DIY softboxes the same site also has another tutorial for an alternative softbox.

Again – this one looks pretty good.

9. Flash Bouncers

There are a lot of DIY flash diffuser hacks and tutorials around but this one from our friend Chris at DSLRBlog is pretty cool.

It costs £1, takes 5 minutes, requires craft foam, a little elastic and some scissors.

The tutorial even includes a template for you to print out on your printer and then cut out – what more do you need?

Even the technologically challenge could make this one (speaking of myself of course).

Nice work from Chris with that one.

Another similar Flash Bouncer/Diffuser can be found over at DPReview here. This one is foam also.

Lastly – another card/paper version of the flash bouncer.

10. Full Budget DIY Lighting Studio

It’s time for one last DIY lighting hack – this one attempts to bring it all together with a full DIY Budget Studio setup.

The author of it takes up the challenge of creating a full studio lighting system for under $75.

It includes lights, reflectors, diffusers and flash diffusers – all using items that you could pick up at hardware and craft stores.

It also shows you a few test shots at the end of the tutorial that compare different lighting options.

You will need your own flash unit to use the flash diffusers on – but the rest is all included in the tutorial.

I particularly light the suggestions around globes for the lights. I know a couple of DPS forum members have had similar success with these sorts of lights.

11. UPDATE: The Fring – a DIY Flash Ring

I saw this one recently and I think it makes a worthy addition to this post.

It is a DIY Fibre-Optic flash extension for your DSLR’s popup flash!

It uses the light from your camera’s flash to light your subject using fibre optics arranged around your lens to give a more even light.

Of course it’s not the easiest to make (there are 37 steps) but it’s an ingenious idea and the example images taken with the setup are pretty cool considering it cost just a few dollars to make.

Subscribe to our newsletter to get more weekly tips like this

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.

DIY Lighting Hacks for Digital Photographers

1. By the look of your site, would it be safe to classify you as a nature photography, primarily?

For better or for worse, I shoot only landscapes that are untouched by man or wild animals in their natural environment.  So yes, I call myself a nature photographer.

2. How did you get your start in photography?  What lead you to it?

I bought my first SLR ten years ago to take on mountaineering trip as well as an extended backpacking holiday through Southeast Asia.  I have always been very connected to the outdoors, from growing up sailing to backpacking & rock-climbing in college.  I became hooked on photography once I started shooting with a real camera rather than disposable or point & shoot cameras.

3. At what point did you go pro?  In other words, when did it become your major source of income?  And what decisions did you have to confront on that path?

Fortunately, I was not addicted to a high income or a particular career path when I naively decided to make photography my career.  My wife was supportive of my initial ambitions, but it took several years until I started making any money at it.  After 9 years as a professional photographer, I now make a modest living.

4. On your blog you mention making a switch from traditional gallery showings and sales to gaining more sales online.  Can you fill in some of the gaps about how that came about for you?

I found initial success working with several art galleries in Washington & Hawaii, as well as selling prints at prominent juried art festivals.  Those sales started to dry up for me a few years ago as the housing market declined.  I was also advised early on by several pros that I became friends with that stock agency income was evaporating, so the only way to make any money licensing images was by doing it myself.  I realized that I needed to adapt to the new reality, so I built my website to be search engine optimized (SEO).  I have also started taking clients on photography tours.  I have zero interest in taking 6-12 photographers to popular National Park viewpoints, so most of my tours are on a custom/private basis.

5. What have become your biggest marketing tools in the last two years?

Admittedly, social networking has been a huge benefit for my business.  I was caught off-guard by it and it certainly does not come naturally to most people.  I started using Twitter 18 months ago, adapted my previous blog to a custom WordPress site 14 months ago, then reluctantly joined Facebook 12 months ago, Flickr 10 months ago, and only recently started using YouTube.  I can not definitively state that when I do X online that I then make Y amount of money, but overall my social networking has helped my reputation grow into a highly regarded and recognized natural history photographer.

6. What advice would you give to our readers looking to follow your path and make a living selling photos?

Do not even begin to think that you can quit a high earning job and make a comparable amount of money shooting nature photography.  There is a reason that a lot of photographers are retired.  You need to be able to pay your bills.  I am very careful about how I spend money on my trips.  I hardly ever pay for a hotel, but instead camp wherever I travel.  I recently flew to Iceland and spent 15 days shooting, but only spent $1921 including my airfare, but that was still a big indulgence for me.  I have a small boat in Alaska that is a major investment, but it has allowed me to shoot things that otherwise would have been impossible.  Ultimately, you have to treat your photography as a business in order to make a living.

——–

I want to thank Jon for taking the time in-between trips to Alaska to answer my questions.  More of his fine work can be spied on his site, Cornforth Images, and he can be followed on Twitter as @cornforthimages.  And if you’re intersted in traveling with Jon and learning a thing or two, he’s heading back to Alaska in early September then off to Patagonia in January.

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.

An Interview With Professional Nature Photographer Jon Cornforth

1. How to Make a Photoweave
2. Are You Making These Mistakes with Your Black and Whites?
3. Why I Use Aperture Priority Mode
4. Mastering Your Flash 101 – High Speed Sync
5. How to Take Better Landscape Photos
6. How I Shoot: Lowkey Portraits
7. Breathtaking Underwater Apartment Photo Manipulation
8. 5 Tips for Great City Shots
9. DIY Strip Lights and Rim Lights
10. Tips and Ideas for Wedding Photography
11. Step by Step Guide for Building a Seamless White Background
12. 14 Powerful TED Talks by Photographers
13. Letter to George
14. On Assignment: The Soprano
15. Adobe Lightroom 3, I Feel the Need for Speed, Oh, And The Most Significant Advancement In Photo Noise Reduction I Have Ever Seen

And for those those readers asking for our monthly wrap up of our own most popular posts – sorry we’re a little late – here’s the most visited 10 posts from dPS for the month of May:

1. 40 Questions I ask Myself before Hitting the Shutter Release
2. Sony NEX-3 Review
3. 8 Lessons Learned from my First Attempt at Portrait Photography
4. 20 Shadow Images to Inspire You
5. 5 Elements of Composition in Photography
6. How to Get Your Camera Back When You Lose it
7. Finding Your Camera’s Current Shutter Actuations
8. 5 More Elements of Composition in Photography
9. How to Shoot Animals, Children and Motorbikes
10. How to Use Your Tripod (it’s not as simple as you think!

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.

15 (+10) Great Photography Links from Around the Web

Every now and again I like to spend a little time surfing through my favorite photography sites and highlighting the cool links that I find. Here’s 13 that I found today – enjoy!

1. Introduction to LED Lighting – A DIY way to light your subjects and get cool effects.
2. Shooting by Moonlight – a great article by Ben Long from Complete Digital Photography
3. How to Get the Most Out of Your Camera Battery – good practical tips
4. 3 Tricks to Turn a Spring Clamp Into Your Best Photo Accessory – from the gang at Photojojo.
5. DIY Steadycam – more of a video DIY tip but still pretty cool.
6. Waterproof Camera Group Test – DPReview tests 7 cameras with waterproof qualities
7. Make your own Remote Shutter Trigger – another DIY
8. Roundup: Ring Flashes – Wired Magazine reviews 4 ring flashes
9. Backing Up Flickr – how to safeguard your Flickr image collection
10. Improvisational Light – a great post at Strobist
11. Live Music Photography 101 – a good basic intro to the topic.
12. DNG, RAW and JPEG: What I Use and Why – a good discussion starter and exploration of the options
13. Publishing Your Own Photo Book – a guide to putting together your own book
14. Three Short Tutorials for Photographers and Photography Lovers – some good basic teaching on Photoshop.
15. Photoshop Elements: Beyond the Basic Fixes – from PopPhoto
16. Five Great Flash Techniques to Improve Your Photography Light – 5 cool techniques, one that is mentioned above.

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.

15 Cool Digital Photography Links from Around the Web

• 31 Angels (And Spidermen, Sportacuses and Doras) - the story of how a photographer photographed a kindergarten costume day.
• When the Media Steals Your Photos - story of a photographer whose images were republished in mainstream media without permission
• Light Painting Light Sabers – a cool technique to take some amazing light painting shots
• Painting with Light - another cool light painting tutorial
• GPP Group Shot = Pressure that Can Make Diamonds - given the task of taking a group photo of a group of photographers Zack takes a creative approach and gets ‘the shot’ (or ‘shots’).
• 12 Ways to Use Your Camera as a Tool – ways of using your camera for purposes other than just taking great shots for your album
• Concert Photography Tips from a Newbie - covers some ‘film’ tips but some good principles for digital photographers too
• Can’t Use Your Flash? Try This Method - using long exposures to create shots at a concert with mood when Flash Photography was prohibited
• Black and White Conversion: Channel Mixer Recipes – post production tutorial on Black and White conversion
• Backlit Night Portrait - “What do you do when you have a coupla minutes to make a quick portrait — and the bright part of your frame calls for a shutter speed of a half-second?”
• The Real Secret to Taking Spectacular Photos – 10 tips on taking Spectacular Photographs.
• Creating a Touching Story Scene in Photoshop – some pretty in depth photoshopping in this one

Marc Silber managed to get ahold of this rare footage of Ansel Adams talking about Visualization.

The Key to a Photograph from Ansel Adams from SilberStudios.Tv on Vimeo.

And lastly – a video that tells how a photographer managed to get a group shot of 800 people at a conference in a dark auditorium.

See the finished shot here.

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.

14 Great Photography Tips, Tutorials and Videos From Around the Web

I was typing away the other day, putting the finishing touches on a short article, and not being the most careful typist, I accidentally wrote “dital” instead of “digital.” Of course, I was immediately notified of my mistake via a little red underline. A simple right-click of my error provided me with a number of spelling alternatives: detail, dial, tidal, vital, and so forth.

Essentially, my computer software was using the information available to it to make an educated guess as to what the right word should be. In some odd way, I was a bit disappointed that even with all the state-of-the-art technology and software innovations available, computers can still do little more than make an educated guess when performing tasks that have a variety of possible outcomes.

So I got thinking, how do these same limitations affect photography. Now that photography has become completely digital, every camera is installed with a small computer and processor. The computer is in charge of a number of key operations, but for today, we’ll just talk about one; how it controls your camera when in automatic mode.

When a camera is fully automated the computer is asked to control a number of extremely important tasks. It uses a combination of pre-installed data and real-time tests to generate an educated guess as how your photograph ought to be shot. For people who don’t care about learning how to use their camera, they accept these educated guesses as the best the camera can do, and if they want a better quality picture, they have to buy a better quality camera. This belief is, for the most part, untrue. While I do believe that a higher quality camera can produce higher quality results, I believe that any camera is capable of shooting a good picture as long as you can take control over how the photo is taken.

So, I’m going to make a statement that sounds simple, but really is something you need to believe if you want to improve your photographic skills:

You are smarter than your camera.

That’s it. That’s all you need to believe. Unfortunately, you’re going to need to prove it.

So what decisions should you make that your camera’s computer never should? The answer is actually quite simple. You need to control the most fundamental features that are the same now as they were fifty years ago: ISO, white balance (WB), aperture (Av), shutter speed (Tv), and focus. So I’m going to talk a bit about my thought process when setting these features manually. I don’t intend to teach you how to make the adjustments or what they are as there exists countless guides that do that already.

ISO & White Balance

These features derive from the properties of film emulsion. Every roll available has both a inherent white balance and ISO. Just be aware of how lucky you are that you can change these settings on the fly with a digital camera, and not have to buy a variety of film to accommodate every shooting scenario that may arise.

ISO : I love pure, bold color so I always aim for the lowest ISO possible. ISO is the first thing I set when entering into a shoot. I base my ISO on the shadows and dark areas of the scene, rather then the the ones that are heavily lit. All ISOs can expose well-lit subjects, but only high ISOs can expose dark areas. The second thing I look at is the speed of my lens. If I have a fast lens (i.e. f2.8) then I know I can push my ISO down a touch. I will also consider my subject. If my subject is static and I can shoot long exposures without risking motion blur then I’ll push my ISO lower, whereas fast-moving subjects require fast shutter speeds and often high ISOs.

WB : I ask myself: how many types of light are present? Which color of light is best to balance to? For instance, if I’m shooting outside then I’ll set my white balance to daylight (6000 degrees kelvin). If I’m shooting a home interior lit with daylight through open windows, and tungsten light from the interior fixtures, then I opt daylight and often use my flash to counteract the tungsten light. Sometimes I try to adjust all lighting so it’s the same color by using gels, swapping bulbs, etc. Other times it works nicely just to let all the different colors of light bee seen – like at crazy rock shows.

Aperture and Shutter Speed

Like a fine balance, each must compliment the other. You cannot change one without affecting the other. These are the yin and the yang of photography. The symbols Av and Tv are often used which stand for Aperture Value and Time Value.

Av : I start by looking at my available light and get an idea of what aperture range I’m looking at. Lots of light means a broader range of choice. Second, I’ll think about the shot itself and what depth of field I want. If I want lots of detail at all depths, then I’ll drop it down as low as f22. If I want a soft background, with a refined range of focus, then I’ll open it up to f2.8 or larger. Sometimes you don’t have a lot of choice, so the wider (lower number) the better. That’s why lenses with apertures like a fixed f2.8 are so expensive – because they’ll benefit you in low light. It’s also important to consider your subject – fast moving subjects will require lower apertures, so you can achieve faster shutter speeds.

Tv : The length of the exposure has huge bearing on the outcome of a shot. I start by looking at my subject and whether or not I want them sharp or blurred. Some subjects like city traffic benefit from long exposures, while others suffer. I try to stay at 1/60 of a second or faster when I’m shooting handheld, and use a tripod for slower exposures. Stillness varies from person to person, and image stabilizers will help. Fast subjects require fast shutter speeds.

Manual Focus

Auto focus is very fast and often quite reliable. That being said, sometimes you just have to take matters into your own hands. Be prepared to make adjustments at a moment notice.

MF : If my lens is struggling to find contrast in a shot, or focuses on the wrong thing, then it goes straight to manual. Most digital SLRs will even give you a audible or visual cue when you’re manually focused correctly. I try to avoid focusing on my subject center frame, and often try to manually keep my focus while reframing in accordance with the rule of thirds. Trusting my auto focus has ruined more shots than I can count. If you eyesight is a tad out, then make sure to set your diopter accordingly. Learn to trust your eyes.

Photography is a subjective medium. Your personal tastes should influence your shots, and there’s no better way to achieve this than by taking control of your camera. Learn how to use your camera quickly and effectively, but also learn how to study the world around you using a photographer’s eye. Soon, you’ll be able to walk into a room and say “if I were shooting in here, I’d be shooting at 400 ISO, tungsten white balance, f4, at 1/60 of a second.” When that day comes, you might also notice that people start finding you strange. Don’t worry, there will always be another photography-loving soul nearby who will understand.

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.

Taking Manual Control Over Your Digital Camera

Here’s a video tutorial for a fun photography task that you can do this weekend (and get results like the image above).

What you’ll need is:

• A camera that lets to choose long shutter speeds
• A tripod to keep the camera still
• An escalator (preferably one with some pretty lighting around it – think Casino’s, shopping centers etc – preferably one in a non busy location)
• The ability to hold yourself still for 20 seconds or so

The video and image is by Brian Shaler – you can read his blog here and see his Flickr Account here.

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.

Learn How to Get this Cool Long Shutter Speed Effect [VIDEO]

Every month or two I like to create a list of helpful tutorials and resources from around the photographic web.

This time I think you’ll agree that there’s been some wonderful tutorials written. I’ve included 17 from other sites – 5 from our archives (this time last year) and 3 great photoshop video tutorials.

17 Hot Photography Links From Around the Web

1. Make Your own BikeCAM – a fun DIY with a video
2. 5 Ways to Hold Your Viewer’s Attention – 5 simple composition techniques
3. Transforming a Daylight Image into a Wild Night – Photoshop tutorial
4. Nine Reasons to Manually Focus When Taking Pictures – sometimes manual focusing is your best option
5. The Importance of focus and quick tips on how to get it right – another focusing related tutorial
6. My Photography Workflow – Photographer Thomas Hawk talks us through his workflow
7. The 15 Second DIY Adjustable Snoot! – a fast DIY
8. The Nuts and Bolts of Off-Camera Flash – first part of a four part series on off camera flash (part 2 here).
9. 8 Photography Myths Debunked – just what the title says
10. Getting Rid of Dust Spots – Photoshopping tips
11. Flicker Flash – How to capture movement with a series of strobe flashes
12. Introduction to Digital Photography – 10 Ways to Improve your skills
13. On Assignment: Night Chopper Pt 2 – 2nd in a series of shots taking you on a shoot of a chopper at night
14. Your Guide to Buying Old Film Cameras – Feeling Retro? This one’s for you!
15. Seeing the Possibilities – a great post on how to see possibilities in different locations
16. Understanding Camera Exposure Modes – talking you through spot, evaluative and center-weighted metering.
17. Curves color enhancement tutorial – a video screencast of GIMP in action

5 Tutorials from our Archives that You Might have Missed!

As usual in these posts I thought I’d throw in a handful of articles from our own archives – from July 2007 – for those of you who are new to Digital Photography School and might have missed some of what we’ve already covered:

1. 18 Exceptionally Useful Photoshop Shortcuts – the most popular post from July last year
2. 7 Strategies for Avoiding Flash Blow Out – we’ve all suffered from it – but how do you overcome flash blowout?
3. 4 Rues of Composition for Landscape Photography – some basic ideas on composition
4. Using Flash in Action Photography – tips and some cool photos
5. How to Photograph Pets – always a popular photographic subject – Pets!

3 Hot Photoshop Video Tutorials

Lastly on this ‘Around the Web’ round up let me share 3 fun photoshop tutorials with you.

1. De-Aging In Photoshop

Curves: Learn How to Use the Basics of Curves

3. Vanish Objects with Clone Tool

Get more great digital photography tips in your inbox by subscribing to DPS.

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.

25 Great Photography Tutorials and Links From Around the Web

The View From Below at neil.creek.name
© Neil Creek

Photo projects are sweeping the ‘net. If you’re a photographer online and you aren’t yet participating, you should!

Thanks to my participation in photo projects my photography has improved, I’ve made many new friends and contacts, and largely through participating in and later running projects, my own blog has gone from 30 views a day and no subscribers to 500+ views a day and 600+ subscribers.

These challenges take many forms and call upon you to take photos that meet a certain set of rules as a way of testing your abilities, teaching you skills, and coming together to participate with other photographers from all around the world. There are all kinds of projects covering all kinds of topics, including: self portraits, specific subjects, particular camera gear or post processing and more. Some projects are a single photo, one a week or one a day, some last a month, others an entire year!

Why You Should Participate

66 Faces of Photography at Epic Edits
CC Brian Auer

• Most projects have a suggested or specific subject, so there’s some great photographic inspiration for something to shoot
• A good project will get you to try something you may not have done before and open up new photographic horizons
• Some projects will push your skills beyond what you’ve done before, and you’ll end up broadening your photo skills
• Looking at the submissions from other participants will show you the many ways the rules can be interpreted and you will learn by seeing how others do things
• Photo projects can be very social activities, introducing you to many other photographers to make friends with and learn from
• Many skilled photographers with connections and influence run and participate in projects, and projects are a perfect way to “break the ice” and broaden your own network
• Most projects will let you link your submissions to your blog or gallery – if the project attracts a lot of visitors, you’ll get many visitors referred through to your own site
• Some projects even have prizes!

Why You Should Organize

April challenge at photochallenge.org
CC Thomas Hawk

• If you’re running a project via a blog, you’ll have content for several posts: announcing the project, showing the submissions, maybe voting on the submissions, and discussing the results and lessons learned
• Running projects is a great way to learn about conducting community events, skills which will make your future projects better and you can apply to other events such as competitions or seminars
• Just like participating in projects, running them helps with networking, but on a much greater scale: no only are you communicating with the participants, but also those linking to the project
• Bloggers and webmasters are always looking for interesting content to show their audience, and photo projects are a favourite, so you may get many more links to your site
• Every participant will obviously be a visitor, but they will also become regular visitors, as they have an investment in the project, they’ll also probably encourage others to see their work, or even participate in the project themselves
• Even if you’re only running a project, and not participating in it yourself, seeing how others interpret the project, you can learn more about photography
• All of the things that make projects popular, also makes them attractive to advertisers, so you may find yourself with new advertising and sponsorship opportunities

Check Out These Projects

I hope you’ll forgive a little self promotion: I’ve been running monthly projects on my blog this year, such as The View From Below, which encouraged participants to photograph the world from ground level, and Iron Chef Photography: Fork
which challenged participants to photograph the secret ingredient, an ordinary fork, in an artistic way. This month the project is Share the Love, where participants photograph something in their life that they love, and share the photo and the reason why they chose it with everyone through the blog. You’re welcome to join this project, and I suggest you subscribe to my blog if you’d like to be informed of new projects that I run (there’s a prize next month!).

There are many other great sites that run projects regularly or from time to time. I’ve listed several below which cover a huge range of potential projects to join. Some of these sites may not currently be running a project, but their previous ones have been fantastic. Maybe you could give the webmaster a little nudge and they might start up a new one *wink*

Cooking Light at Strobist
CC iDream_in_Infrared

• Epic Edits – The Edit My Photo project was my first project, and really got me excited about the process. Brian, the guy behind EE really helped me to grow my blog through his projects and I owe him much of my success. Thanks Brian!
• Photochallenge.org – A site dedicated to photo projects, this one really challenges photographers and sets the bar high with monthly themed projects that require a photo each day. There’s no shortage of photographers willing to answer the challenge and the submissions are always amazing.
• adidap.com – Want to be featured in a calendar? This site hosts a unique project which selects the best photo in its Flickr pool each month to be featured as that month’s photo in a 2009 calendar to be printed at the end of the project.
• photonovice.net – For photographers who are also bloggers, this interesting series of projects asks you to share your blog stats and discuss how understanding them affects what you photograph.
• Strobist – This juggernaught of a site, familiar to a million photographers for its outstanding lighting information and breathtaking Flickr pool featues semi-regular lighting assignments, and the results are always spectacular, such as those from the Cooking Light assignment.
• DPS forums – You don’t have to look far for photo projects. This very site runs a weekly photographic assignment in the forums.
• Flickr – There are countless groups running projects of every kind you can imagine, including the very popular “365” daily photo projects.

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.

Photo Projects – Why you should participate

Links from Around the Web

• Regular contributer to Digital Photography School, Martin Gommel, has just posted an interview with me about this blog on this blog and blogging in general. The intro is in German but the interview is in English.
• Ricoh announced a new camera in the last week – the Ricoh GR Digital II (an update of the GR Digital). Looks like a very nice point and shoot.
• Epic Edits has a quick tip on taking a Miniature Camera Bag instead of a fully loaded one when you’re out with your camera
• Thomas Hawk shares some reasons why you should upgrade to Photoshop CS3
• Photojojo shares 12 Fantastic Fall Photo Tips
• Photodoto shares some tips on photographing people in public places
• Popular Photography shares 5 advanced flash techniques that would be helpful for many.
• Crestock shares 8 tips from the World’s Top Selling Photographer Yuri Arcurs.
• I just came across the following video (via Strobist) of a photo shoot with a Pro Photographer shooting a drilling rig for a corporate shoot. It’s a great little video that gives some insight into what goes on behind the scenes in such a shoot. Enjoy:

Classic Links from Our Archives

Lastly – here are a few of the better posts from our own archives from this time last year:

• Introduction to Tripods – a series that spanned numerous posts on using, buying and alternatives to tripods.
• Using Light to Create Texture in Your Photography – learn to pain with light
• Zoo Photography – an introduction to photographing animals in captivity
• How to Take Sharp Digital Images – practical tips on taking sharp shots
• How to Use and Buy Polarizing Filters – a basic introduction on these very handy filters
• How to Choose a DSLR Camera – a practical guide to buying that DSLR you’ve been eyeing off

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.

Digital Photography Tips from Around the Web – 2 November 2007