As soon as you get this hand strap onto your camera, your life will be one sweet song. Attractive strangers will ask for your number. Dollar bills will rain from the sky. And Queen Elizabeth will call you personally to sing you to sleep at night. Well not quite … but at least your camera will be safe.

If you’re sick of dropping your camera or worrying about the same … here’s a great DIY camera strap project to put your mind at ease.

Get all the DIY details here

Ever wanted to play with macro photography but didn’t have the budget to buy a dedicated macro lens?

Jim from ProPhotolife shows us a trick in the video below using two lenses that you might have in your camera bag already to achieve 1:1 magnification.

quick video 4, extreme macro photography trick from Jim Talkington on Vimeo.

If you’re interested in trying out this technique, you’ll also see in the video that Jim refers to a reversing ring which can purchased easily & inexpensively, that will allow you to use this technique without needing to manually hold the lenses together with your spare hand.

Have fun – and don’t forget to share your results in our comments section below.

© Original by john white photos
‘So what are you doing this Australia Day ?’

Here’s a really neat trick to try …

Posted on Flickr by the very talented South Australian photographer John White.

Just a bit of fun. 9 Friends with burning sticks from a campfire writing in the air.

Canon 5D
30 second exposure
f 2.8 at 16mm
ISO 1600

Post your attempts in the comments below … I’d love to see what you came up with.

Today I thought I’d show you how I transform my family room into a studio & set up my photo-shoots in less than 5 mins and how the setup I used for the silhouette shots. Truly!

1. Our family room has lovely big windows which let in lots of natural light so I simply slide the lounge out of the way to expose a blank wall (besides the hanging art) which faces the window and I’m good to go.

I prefer to shoot with natural light so this is perfect.

2. I have two painters extension poles (pics 1-4) which I have added a rubber stopper to the ceiling end (pic 5). I simply extend to the height of the ceiling and lock. Two poles cost around $48 from Bunnings (Australia)

3. I have an old white faux-satin King size sheet which I use. Unfortunately it has a seam through the middle but I can usually cleverly hide this in this pic or clone it out with PS afterwards if necessary. The trick here is to have the subject stand away from the backdrop so that it is out of focus or over expose it so that it blows out … I do love high key photography.

I also have a large black faux-satin sheet and some interesting fabrics which I can drape over the white or black if I want a different effect. Fairy lights & similar also work well to give a night bokeh light effect.

4. The backdrop sheet is simply clamped to the poles with a couple of small clamps (pic 4) – too easy!

5. The lights I use (pic 6) are simply $25 (Bunnings again) workman lights that pump out a massive 500w each. (They get extremely hot so don’t touch or put anything too close and watch where you place them for safety issues). They come with halogen globes which give off a yellow light which works if you want a warmish feel otherwise you can get white light globes for them. The telescopic stand extends to 1.6m off the ground.

These lights are just placed behind my backdrop for the silhouette effect.

Now obviously I took these photos at night with no other lighting on just the worklights from behind.

And that’s it.

If I’ve missed anything or you have questions or comments please leave a comment below. I’d love to hear from you.