The truth of the thing, as Destin explains, is that light painting is done by cute girls throwing beads at boxes. OK, it does not, but Destin and daughter (and Wes Whaley) do a terrific job and explaining all this stuff in a fun and super easy to understand way. (Plus you get to see some of the most unique pregnancy photoshoots ever). Hit the jump to see the full video.

"The lens cap disappeared and I hate to have my lens unprotected.  So I cut off the end of a Dr. Pepper bottle to use till I could order the right lens cap for it.  Quite by accident I had picked a perfect fit for this lens and since a replacement cap is not cheap and this is and it works and fits so well, I have not bothered to order the replacement cap.

Wood worker Brian Grabski and photographer Josh Van Patter collaborated both photographic know-how and superb craftsmanship to create this beautiful piece of work. They then used it to shoot Fade around Lake Powell.

I am not going to repeat the entire post here, but his main point is that the industry has cut costs by moving manufacturing over to China. After moving manufacturing, the industry then moved the engineering overseas. In the end of this process, China no longer needs American brands to produce good lighting gear, and American lighting companies have found  themselves fighting their own creations. Jaron ends the post with the sad prediction that “there is no way out of this cycle of de

Lastly, if you wondered why you would need a long TTL cord, check out Syl Areana's super smart way of using a Canon TTL master strobe inside a softbox to control other Canon strobes OR David Hobby's Strobe on a Rope self-assist way of off camera flashing.

It is not often that I see a picture and get my eye wet with nostalgia. However this one from David Sittig hit a soft spot for me (click here for lightbox view). Having a Kiev 88, a Seagull 4A and a Minolta SRT 101 in the same shot should be good enough on any given day, but David made the extra step of making it a TTV (Through The Viewfinder) photograph featuring the Minolta and Seagull in the Kiev's viewfinder.(Final image, just in case you care for this kind of thing, was taken with a D90)

The stitching job is really easy and if you ever wanted to get into sewing (come'on I know you do) this is a great starters project, that will ease you in to the world of doubles, zig-zags and overlocks. (And you win a wonderful strap in the process). Hit the jump for a full movie tutorial.

For about three years I used a Nikon Coolpix and enjoyed taking photos of snowflakes in the winter. I struggled with the autofocus, so I figured I would invest in a digital camera with manual focus and macro. After much time and web surfing, I found the Canon SX130IS which has very good reviews, manual focus, and a reasonable price.

Jaroslav over at Crazy Lab found an interesting way of measuring the burst rate and comparing different factors that affect the camera to card writing speed. TO make the test constant he covered the lens of his Canon T3i and took pictures of darkness. By recording the shutter sound (or music as some call it) and displaying the waveform in Audacity Jaroslav was able to compare burst-rates of different ISOs, capturing modes and cards.

I've seen some crazy setups for high speed photography utilizing all sorts of weird parts. There is even a system that will turn the lights off for you, if you so please. But, this is the first time I am seeing such a huge overkill in term of components used to gain some control over the circuit.

Our buddy Destin from Smarter Every Day is about to have a new baby, but seconds before rushing to the hospital, he shares a neat slo-mo (or high-speed, depending on your take) video of a Canon 60D shutter going through the a full exposure cycle.

That means that you have to pre-visualize your light. If you are new to strobes this may not be trivial even on a bare strobe, but throw some modifiers in (e.g. a softbox or an umbrella) and it get even harder. This is why a modeling light is can be your best friend as you make your first steps into the modifiers world. In this tutorial I will explain how you can add a modeling light to a strobe using a DIY Double Flash Bracket, but any double flash bracket will do.

That means that you have to pre-visualize your light. If you are new to strobes this may not be trivial even on a bare strobe, but throw some modifiers in (e.g. a softbox or an umbrella) and it get even harder. This is why a modeling light is can be your best friend as you make your first steps into the modifiers world. In this tutorial I will explain how you can add a modeling light to a strobe using a DIY Double Flash Bracket, but any double flash bracket will do.

The really nice thing about it, is the most often than not, the inventor would stand in their booth in a way that allows direct interaction. The kind of stuff you can't get on emails. So you get to ask questions, make suggestions and get instant feedback. nice.

Photographer and design student Hunter Frerich came up with this really cool DIY for building a small circular soft box. It kinda resembles one of the first projects on DIYP (which is the one that actually pushed me to start the site) but is waaaaay nicer and probably gives way better light. It kinda resembles the Honl Traveller8, but exchanges the high $$ for sewing skills.