Photography & Video

The latest DIY ideas, techniques and tools for creating and editing digital photos and videos, as well as how to make your own still and video cameras.

Budget studio lighting for video

Budget studio lighting for video

I recently put together a small video studio in the guest bedroom (not sure how the in-laws will like this) and wanted to design a high-quality, low-budget lighting setup. I wanted a bright, diffuse key light (that’s the primary light off to one side and slightly higher than your head to illuminate the subject) and a slightly less bright, lower-angle fill light. Here’s what I came up with.

Pinhole photo contest

Pinhole photo contest

Lensbaby, who make fun lenses for DSLRs (including, not coincidentally, a pinhole simulator lens) are offering a pinhole photo contest. Pinhole photography can be beautiful, ethereal, and even magical, and takes us back to the earliest origins of image making. Help us celebrate this wonderful photography medium just in time for Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day! […]

Flashback: 2-Mile Camera Remote

Flashback: 2-Mile Camera Remote

We just shipped the newest issue of MAKE, Volume 22, to the printer, and my head is swimming with all things remote control, which is the theme. This got me to thinking about previous remote control projects that have graced the many pages of MAKE. Necessity is indeed the mother of invention, and maker Tom […]