With all the gear we review here in ThinkCamera it's far too easy to think that to be a good photographer you need to have limitless funds. Now we aren't going to show you how to build a 1DSMkII out of an old shoebox but I thought it would be fun to round up a few web tutorials showing things you can make to enhance your photographic pleasure.
If the weather's too bad to go out this weekend then why not try some of these projects - you'll end up with some cool gadgets and you might even have fun!
A better bounce card. The direct light from your flashgun sucks. It gives nasty shadows and horrid light. That's why lots of people bounce it off the ceiling. What if there's no ceiling? Well, you could pay out for some fancy kind of flash reflector/bounce/softbox thing - or you could head over to Peter Gregg's fabulous site and learn to make your own for about 20p.
What, cut paper, bend it and use an elastic band? Sounds like hard work. And what if you want to bounce the flash from a pop up flash gun? A better bounce card isn't going to help you then - call for the Marlboro Man. [Note: as the tutorial points out, if you gave up smoking you could afford all kinds of flash diffusers....].
You've probably seen the crazy images you can get from a Lensbaby. You may even have looked in awe at the tilt/shift lenses you can buy to improve your architectural photography. They allow you to move the front optic away from being parallel to the iamge plane to correct perspective and produce amazing depth of field. Bet you've never made one out of a sink plunger though.
If you don't already know the amazing Strobist site then check it out. It's one of the best resources on the web for learning lighting. Even cooler, you can learn how to build stuff very cheaply. If you've been looking at fashion portraits by people such as Michael Grecco then you'll love the tight lighting he gets from using gridded lights. Of course Michael Grecco has a huge budget and probably spend thousands on his kit. He certainly doesn't make them out of corrugated cardboard.
And finally, ever been out and about without your tripod and wanted to hold your camera steady? If you're in an urban area then chances are there are railings or a fence or a bench around. Bet you've tried resting your camera on it for extra stability. Bet you haven't spent £2 at B&Q and hacked a mini tripod to give you a great camera support.
