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Inkjet Greeting Card Intro Video from Red River Paper

December 3, 2009 By Eric Reagan

Red River Paper has published a video that gives an overview of their paper selection and printing capabilities for holiday cards.  It’s a bit on the commercial pitch side of the coin; however, those of you interested in printing your own holiday cards might get something out of it.

Red River Paper keeps telling me how great their products are; however, I generally get all of my printing needs covered through MyPhotopipe, Mpix, SmugMug (via Bay Photo) or locally at Thompson Photo (all of which do a bang up job).  For those self-printing types out there, Red River Paper does have the endorsement of Derrick Story over at The Digital Story, who is a pretty trustworthy source.

If any of you have thoughts on your own use of Red River Paper, feel free to drop a comment below.

Finally, you can find the holiday card resource mentioned in the video – here at Red River Paper.

Filed Under: Learn Tagged With: christmas cards, diy, holiday cards, photography, Printers, red river paper

 

Concert Photography – Capturing the Essence of a Concert

July 3, 2009 By Eric Reagan

The following post is by New York-based photographer and artist Angela Datre, who provides a thorough introduction into concert photography and delves into what it takes to capture the essence of a concert. Learn more about her at the end of this post.

“It’s very hard with a still photograph to capture the action of a concert. You try to see something in the face, the body, the lighting…Once I see a good shot in the viewfinder, it’s gone. The music gets inside of me, it’s in my brain, I’m close enough to the stage so that the vibration from the speakers is making my skin tingle, and I’m filling the viewfinder with the musician. I just always feel high.”

-Baron Wolman, Concert Photographer

When it comes down to it, I take photographs at the shows I attend because I can’t not take photographs when I am there. I feel awkward if I am not all the way up front-able to see everything, shoot everything. It started with snapshots in the crowd when I was younger and has now become a lifestyle, an obsession.

I thought I would write a blog post on live music photography because it is something that is so near and dear to me. And I’ll admit it; I started off the same way many young photographers start out-bringing a point and shoot digital camera to shows and shooting with a slow-shutter speed or tilting the camera so the image is askew. It took me some time to realize that there is so so much more you can do with live music photography and I feel the need to share what I have learned with others. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Learn Tagged With: concerts, diy, how to, music, photography

Old Scanner Remade Into 130-Megapixel Camera

June 14, 2009 By Eric Reagan

And you thought the 5D Mark II had too many pixels.  Well a do-it-yourselfer has taken an old HP Scanner and used the spare parts to make a 130-megapixel digital camera.  How’s that for a weekend project?

[via PopPhoto]

Filed Under: Learn Tagged With: diy, scanner camera

DIY Softbox

March 27, 2008 By Eric Reagan

Last weekend, my wife asked me if I wanted to shoot her brother’s yearbook pictures.  I said, “Sure,” without really knowing what to expect.  She told me they would be less formal than a traditional high school’s yearbook photos because, in his home school group, it’s up to the parents to get the photos done and to the yearbook editors.  “Something nice in the backyard,” she said. Upon my arrival, however, the in-laws wanted a more traditional/formal shot for the yearbook.

Softboxes for $0.16

I don’t really have a great portrait setup, so my next question was, “Do you have a couple of shoeboxes?”  [Read more…]

Filed Under: Learn Tagged With: diy, photography, softbox

DIY Ringflash

January 20, 2008 By Eric Reagan

Wesley Ringflash

The DIY Ringflash (as opposed to the $910 Bowens Ringflash) is really creating a stir on the internet nowadays.  I’m officially on the band wagon now. I invested about $5.00 on a trip to Wal-Mart the other night for a disposable casserole pan, 1 yard of white fabric and a plastic measuring cup. After about an hour or so of tinkering around while my wife watched Flip That House, I had a pretty effective little ringflash. It was inspired by Tanya Shields’ cheap DIY ringflash that I read about on Strobist last week.

Ringflash FrontRingflash Back

If you’ll click on the photos, you can see my notes that I placed on them via Flickr.

I can’t say that there’s really anything unique about my setup; however, here’s the details:

  • (1) quart-sized utility cup
  • (1) casserole disposable aluminum pan
  • (1) small sheet of white fabric
  • (1) roll of black tape
  • (1) scrap of cardboard from an envelope from MyPhotopipe.com

Steps

  • trace the bottom of the cup onto the pan
  • cut a hole in the middle of the pan along your outline
  • fit the cup in the hole an mark where to cut the bottom out
  • cut the bottom of the cup out at your mark
  • trace the end of your speedlight along the side of the pan
  • cut along your traced outline
  • wrap a piece of cardboard around the end of your speed light and secure it with tape (make sure you can get your flash in and out)
  • insert your flash with cardboard into the cutout on the side of the pan
  • secure the cardboard in the pan with tape
  • spray paint the exterior of the cup with flat white paint (this helps bounce the light around)
  • secure the cup (now a tube) into the pan with tape
  • mark the fabric on the lip of the cup
  • cut a hole in the fabric just smaller than the size of the cup’s opening
  • secure the fabric on the inside of the cup’s opening with tape
  • trim the fabric along the exterior of the pan (I also cut into the overlapped portions to keep it from bunching up when I tried to lay it down)
  • lay fabric down along the edges and secure with tape
  • insert your gear and go take some test shots

Ringflash Side

Dino Ringflash

If you’re into this kind of stuff, consider these other DIY rightlight resources:

Strobist

More Strobist

Ringflash Week at Strobist

DIY Photography

Dave Tejada

All Day I Dream About Photography

Filed Under: Learn, Lighting Tagged With: diy, ray flash, ring flash, ring light

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