Lifehacker’s Top 10 DIY Photography Tools is a mine of nifty gems for photographers to up their own photo mojo. Besides what I learned (see below), I am finding myself thinking more about the rise of the DIY (Do It Yourself) culture on the net- there surely is a future blog post relating that to education. Or maybe some crazy dude will write it for me.
But back to cameras. I am going to ASAP try 9. Make a remote camera trigger by modding a $3 cell phone hands set (looks like a matter of disabling the microphone). There is a very clear instructables bit to walk you through it. What I am looking for is the ability to take long exposures
Make a remote shutter release for your canon digital camera (and some other brands such as Pentax, sony, and some nikons) for about 3 bucks in under 5 minutes, even a 1st grader can do this.
Remote shutter trigger for Digital Cameras – More DIY How To Projects
Does anyone sense a value in the approach of the way content is done in instructables?? Does not smell like a CMS at all.
5. Take wider-angle shots by creating mini-panoramas. I’ve already been doing a lot of this– my pocket Canons (SD800 and the new IXY 3000is) have a great shooting mode for getting your overlap on panoramas. I rave about Autostitch (free, but Windows only), and actually use the shareware Mac OS X version that is done up as Calico.
4. Get started with time-lapse photography. This is one I want to do, am going to check out the LifeHacker recommended Photojojo guide. Check out this example of a year’s worth form one spot in New York City:
Photojojo’s Time Lapse Video of Bryant Park from Photojojo on Vimeo.
3. Super-charge your Canon camera’s firmware. I played with this a bit on my old SD800 — it had the benefit of adding a needed battery meter and enhancing the shooting capabilities, e.g. shooting in RAW… My new IXY seems to have these covered, but the whole process (easy_ of hacking your camera’s firmware is fun. Check out CHDK.
1. Make your own macro kit. Another one I plan to try, as soon as I can finish a can of pringles and find some cardboard to use as the macro studio.
More to come as I tinker with these.
