Photo hacks

[limr]

Seven Simple Photography Tips And Tricks. [VIDEO]

Are these techniques tired and old? Gimmicky? Cool? Have any of your own?

(I've been known to use a sheer curtain pulled over the lens to temper the glare of sun coming in through a window.)

Discuss.

 

[KmH]

EZ DIY hacks as applicable today as they were 30 years ago, but yes some of them are cheesy.

Necessity is the mother of invention.

 

[hamlet]

It sure is neat how creative you can get with this medium.

 

[limr]

It's true - I'm just curious how often people these days would chose a physical hack like the Vaseline on the lens instead of doing it digitally in software.

 

[hamlet]

Most of the hacks i do are just practicals stuff. Like hold my 190cm monopod by the bottom part and raise it completely above so my height is essentially now doubled and i can have a unique shot from above.

 

[webestang64]

It's true - I'm just curious how often people these days would chose a physical hack like the Vaseline on the lens instead of doing it digitally in software.

I still do that..............! or use a nylon stocking...............:thumbup:

 

[limr]

Ooh, a stocking. Good idea. I've also used sunglasses as filters on occasion.

 

[Derrel]

It's true - I'm just curious how often people these days would chose a physical hack like the Vaseline on the lens instead of doing it digitally in software.

I still do that..............! or use a nylon stocking...............:thumbup:

I still have my 1980's collection of "hairspray filters" and "black paint diffusers".

Hairspray filters...a lot like the Vaseline effect, only not messy and more or less permanent.

Black Paint Diffuser: take a good UV or clear filter, and spray black spraypaint in a cloud, well ABOVE the filter, and allow the aerosolized spraypaint mist to coalesce into teeny-tiny droplets as it falls through the air, and lands on the surface of the filter. This creates a very wonderful diffuser; Tiffen makes a commerical diffuser that is similar, long ago called the Black Net Diffuser. It has since been re-named.

From TIffen's diffusion landing page: "BLACK DIFFUSION/FX® - A unique optical construction that produces the most advanced diffuser effect ever developed by Tiffen. Creates a soft focus look that is hard to detect that a filter was even utilized. Unsurpassed features for people images in suppressing facial blemishes and wrinkles, while maintaining a clear, focused image. Gives a silky-smooth look to textured surfaces. Eliminates unwanted details without achieving a "dull" or "fuzzy" look. Slightly subdues highlights while producing only a bare minimum of light flare. The Black Diffusion FX offers a "Very Subtle" softening look even at its greatest #5 density. The lighter densities are often utilized to obtain the "Film Look" in video. Available in densities 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, 1-5. Light Loss: 1/3 f:stop"

A Dallas Fort Worth wedding pro friend of mine swears by this filter (and yes, he shoots all-digital and has for 15 years).

 

[webestang64]

I'll have to try the black spray trick! I get as many UV filters I want for free from work......we have a ton of used filters. I still want to try using sandpaper on a UV filter. A buddy did that it gave a neat effect.

 

[Derrel]

The whole "paint droplets that fall" trick is a great way to do color overlays on things like fishing lures too; I am an amateur spinner and fishing lure designer/builder/painter, and have found that bright fluorescent paint colors like orange or yellow allowed to "mist/drip" over black base coats look VERY appealing to both fish, and lure buyers. Yeah...it's weird, but a BLACK diffusing material looks very different from a white diffusing substance. I am anxious to try that sandpaper idea.

One has to keep in mind, that with spray can paint, the ambient air temperature MUST be above about 65 degrees for the paint to stay aerosolized; below that temperature and the paint leaves the nozzle and IMMEDIATELY forms into big, heavy, large droplets....so, you want to do this in a warm environment, and with the pain inside the can also warmed up to 70-75 at least. In really HOT weather, like in August at 95-100 degrees, the drops form very slowly--hardly at all actually. You can practice on a piece of typing paper to get the feel for how big/dense the black paint droplets will be by the time the aerosolized paint coagulates into droplets and falls to the painting "surface" below.

Yesterday, I was wondering what say, Scotch brand frosted Magic Tape might look like if applied to the front of a filter's edges, and the center left clear and open; I was thinking that might look somewhat like the Vaseline trick, but without the mess.

 

[ronlane]

I was at a photo expo in April and Dixie Dixon showed a video of her using the Vaseline on a filter, so I guess it is still a good technique.

 

[webestang64]

Oh yeah....tape...!

I know all about rattle cans..(I've done the heat them up in warm water trick)..I build plastic model kits. I've seen guys use the "falling" paint trick to make a hardtop look like it has a vinyl top on the model kit. I'll just get a bunch of filters and try different heights and such.

 

[limr]

Nice!

(Edit: @Derrel's black paint trick - I stepped away from my computer and a bunch more posts showed up! )

 

[vintagesnaps]

I haven't really tried any of my own hacks (and I don't think I'd want to smear goo on a lens). I've picked up odds & ends like some old Spiratone multi-image filters and whatnot, kind of fun to play around with from time to time.

 

[TheFantasticG]

Almost all of my "hacks" have to do with diffusing the light coming from flashes. Mostly in the effort to make it extremely soft.