This project combines power drills and your camera-surely that’s just fun squared!  The other thing is that using a drill means that you get totally even lines and a cleaner, less ‘handmade’ look, which can add an enviable air of ‘how did they do that?’ to your photograph.

Equipment list:

• Coat Hanger
• Wire Cutter
• Battery operated power drill
• Fairy Lights
• Gaffa Tape
• Tripod
• DSLR Camera
• Spare torch so that you can see what you are doing in the dark.
• An assistant (or a shutter remote or some nipping in front and behind camera).

Here’s how to make the light tool…

Take a coat hanger and a pair of wire snippers.

 Snip off the hook part of the coat hanger.

Reshape the coat hanger so it looks a bit like the image below.

Gather together the fairy lights and fasten them with gaffer tape.

 Leave enough wire so that the switch end of the lights can be attached to the other end of the coat hanger.

Health and Safety Alert!! Firmly fit the end of handle end of the coat hanger into the drill, make sure that it won’t fly out when you use the drill.

The Photography Bit

Fix your camera on the tripod and get your camera into gear by doing the following:

• First dial in a low ISO like 100 or 200 to preserve picture quality.
• Next use Shutter priority mode which is ‘TV’ on the mode dial of a canon or ‘S’ for shutter on a Nikon. Dial in a shutter of about 15 seconds and adjust it up or down  depending on how long you want to spend in front of the lens.
• Manually set the focus by placing a lit torch on the area where you are going to shoot, then look through the viewfinder and make sure the torch is in sharp focus.

Press the shutter or get your assistant to do so and get in front of the camera. Put the power drill into a low gear, turn the fairy lights on and give it a twirl. Review the results and adjust the shutter speed.

Top Tips!

Orbs: To create a light orb, take the drill for a spin and walk around in a small circle around a central point.

Worm Hole: Walk towards the camera with your drill, tah dah.

Here’s is an other light painting project.

Oh and here’s another one!

Let me know how you get on and if you enjoy this project then please share it using the buttons below.

For this project you will need, some scissors, some images to cut up, a tripod a DSLR camera and some video editing software (Windows Movie Maker, Adobe Premiere or Final Cut Pro will defo work!)

Check out the work of Terry Gilliam from his Monty Python days or the amazingly intricate paper cut outs of Lotte Reiniger for inspiration. Or for a more contemporary twist watch some South Park episodes, which were originally made as a cut out animation.

Still haven’t got any ideas? Oh well don’t worry, just grab a few photos and cut out stuff from magazines and then create a surreal narrative when you are animating.

• Assemble the cut out bits of paper onto a table.
• Stick down the bits that won’t be moving with blue tack or doubled over cellotape.
• Set the camera up on the tripod over the cut outs.
• Lock down the settings on the camera as much as possible so that the shots will be consistent. Use Shutter Priority and Manual Focus. Check that the ISO is low to preserve picture quality and that the White Balance isn’t in auto.
• Frame your shot up nicely.
• Press the shutter and then make a small movement to your cuts out. Press the shutter again. Repeat this process again and again until you have completed your animation.
• Then you need to import the still images into some video editing software and make sure they are in the right order.
• Next you need to export of the still images, this will transform the individual still frames into a continuous movie clip.
• Import the movie of your still images and change the speed, so it is a smooth continuous animation.
• Add sound effects, titles etc. Hey Presto! You are done!

Check out this video where I walk you through the process:

When I was learning how to use the camera, there were certain buttons that I wouldn’t go near: I either thought that I’d never being able to undo my fiddling or I’d somehow break the camera! It took me several years to conquer those utterly irrational fears and to start experimenting with those banned buttons.

For me the ‘Exposure compensation’ was one of ‘those buttons’.

What does the Exposure compensation button do?

Well, it overrides the cameras automatic exposure settings by either making the images brighter or darker. This is particularly useful if you are a fan of using semiautomatic modes like Aperture priority, Shutter Priority or Programme mode (these can be found on your mode dial on top of your camera).

 Why use Exposure Compensation?

Your camera is a pretty smart machine. However it’s not as smart and discerning as you and very occasionally it can be wrong (which of course isn’t like you at all!).

For those odd occasions when your camera doesn’t get it right, it’s advantageous to get to know the little button, which normally has an ‘EV’ (for Exposure Value) with a ‘+/-‘ sign. This is known as exposure compensation button.

On the back of your screen it appears as a slider with a ‘0’ in the middle and a ‘+’ at one end of the scale and a ‘-‘ at the other. When the arrow is at ‘0’ this is where no exposure compensation has been applied.

Depending on your camera specification you can either under or over expose by two or three stops.

Each stop is sub divided by smaller increments so that you can get your exposure spot on.

When you move the arrow towards the + end of the scale you will be increasing the exposure of the image (making it brighter) and when you move the arrow to the minus sign you will be making the image darker.

How do I use it?

Firstly you will need to take a shot where the exposure looks wrong. Secondly you will need to adjust the exposure compensation to either brighten or darken the exposure. Thirdly you need to take the shot again. Lastly, review your shot and adjust the settings as necessary.

When will I need to use this button?

Here are some of the situations, which derail the camera and cause it to produce less than perfect pictures.

Sunsets – The striking vivid colours of a sunset that cause you to reach for your camera, can often be over exposed and look flat and washed out. The fix is to under expose the shot, (moving the arrow to the minus end) allowing the colours to burn in and for other elements of the image to be in silhouette.

Snow – You might want a photograph that shows a beautifully white snowy scene but your camera wont. It will probably show you and underexposed image where everything looks grey. The fix is to over expose the image by moving the arrow to the + end of the scale.

Back lighting – Try and take a picture of person standing in front of a window and your camera will be totally baffled. The resulting image will probably have a silhouetted person and a perfectly exposed window view – aagh this wasn’t what you want! The fix for back lighting is to over expose the image, by again moving the slider to the + end of the scale. This should result in a correctly exposed person and a ‘whited out’ background.

Why don’t you just use manual?

If you are a fan of using the semi automatic settings then exposure compensation is a time saver. You can do it on the fly by adjusting the exposure compensation button, shooting, then resetting it without losing your flow. But if you’re a fan of Manual, yeah sure use that!

Go For It!

So experiment with this little button so that you learn how it works and what a difference it can make to your shooting. Oh, and always remember to reset the arrow back to ‘0’ once you have been using this setting.

The close up filter opens up a macro world of possibilities, the impossibly small become impressively big in your frame. Macro enthusiasts often make the amazing detail of plants, animals and insects their domain.

Investing as little as £10 can be a good way of getting into macro photography. The close up filters are also really light and portable so it’s not like lugging around another heavy lens, when you are out taking photos.

• To find out which filter you need, you’ll first have to find out the diameter of your existing lens – take a close look at your lens, it will say it on there somewhere. My Canon kit lens is 58mm. You can buy sets of Close up filters that can be stacked by screwing onto each other, to increase magnification. When you are attaching the filters make sure that your camera is manual focus (‘MF’ on the cameras lens not ‘AF’ for auto focus) you don’t want to accidently damage your lenses motor by screwing against it.
• Shoot in manual: open up the aperture as wide as it can be to allow the maximum amount of light to come into the camera. If your subject is moving, dial in a shutter speed which is fast enough to freeze the motion. If your images are under exposed increase the amount of ISO in the image.
• If you’ve got a tripod use it to eliminate any camera wobble and ensure your shots are nice and sharp.
• Get up close and really personal to the object that you want to photograph.
• Auto focus should work with the close up filters attached however if the camera is having difficulty finding focus switch to manual.

The close up filters vary in quality but I recommend buying a cheap set and if you like what your seeing, you can always splash some more cash on either some better quality filters or even a specialist macro lens. Happy snapping!

Click here’s another budget photography idea 

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1. Put your camera in Shutter Priority Mode using the mode dial (‘TV’ Canon or ‘S’ Nikon).
2. Use the dial to set the camera to 5 seconds.
3. Keep your ISO low – try not to go beyond ISO 400.
4. Use a tripod or a flat surface so that your camera is rock steady.
5. Test your settings by reviewing the image on your LCD screen.

There’s three ways of controlling the amount of light coming into the camera. Master the three things and how they relate to each other and you have mastered your camera. So drum roll please, they are:

This affects the cameras censors sensitivity to light. High ISO numbers are great for shooting in poor lighting situations e.g. at a gig, at a party or under your bed! But they can make your images poor quality because they are full of digital noise.

The shutter is a bit like a set of curtains which open and close in front of the sensor. Shutter Speed is normally measure in a fraction of second. So high numbers eg 1/250 are pretty quick, whilst 1/15 is pretty slow. The shutter speed is a measure of the amount of time that the sensor is exposed to light.

Aperture is a bit like the iris of your eye which controls the amount of light received by the retina at the back of your eye. On bright sunny day the iris or your eye will be small to minimise the amount of light. But if you were in a night club or dimly lit room then your iris would be large to maximise the amount of light coming into your eye. Aperture works in the same way.

Aperture is measured in f-stops and is all about the amount of light coming in to the camera. Each f-stop relates to a different sized hole in the lens – big holes (small f-stop numbers) let in the most about of light, whilst small holes (large f-stop numbers) let in a small about of light.

Exposure doesn’t just describe what goes on in your camera it is also used to describe your photos as well.

Too much light coming into the camera can give an over exposed (not enough detail in the white areas) image and too little light and you’ll image with be underexposed (no detail in the dark areas).

But the best thing about exposure is that it’s ultimately up to the photographer to decide what the ‘correct’ exposure is for an image. So if looks good to you, then it’s a good exposure. This looks just fine to me!

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Images produced using high-speed photography are awesome because they freeze moments of time, which can’t be seen with the naked eye. A whole world of smashing, dripping, crashing, cracking and bursting stuff, suddenly becomes visible.

Not surprisingly, high speed photography has had photographers gripped for years. Harold E. ‘Doc’ Edgerton who was born in 1903, managed to freeze motion with his high speed photos of crowning water droplets, bullets passing through objects and birds in flight. So why not embrace the pioneering spirit of the great ‘Doc’ and feel the thrill of high shutter speed shots.

 Here’s what you will need:

• Water
• Glass container
• Interesting missile to fling into water (vegetable, plastic duck, your fist etc)
• Some lights* (Household lights, Speedlites, or video lights)
• Table and background
• An assistant (this is handy but not essential, you could use a tripod to keep your camera steady whilst you make a splash.)
• DSLR Camera

*For these photos I used videos lights, which are very bright. However a similar effect could be achieved by using bright window light or a collection of household lamps. Speedlights of course could be used for this exercise but the flash recycling times are normally slower than the shutter burst settings, so constant light has it’s advantages.

The ‘how to’ bit:

Set the lights up so that one is aiming at the backdrop and two are aiming at the glass container. Fill your glass vessel half full with water and have plenty of paper towels on standby, to mop up any watery mishaps. Select a missile, something with a bit of weight and a bit of buoyancy is ideal.

• Put your camera in manual mode (‘M’ on the mode dial), so you can control the aperture and the shutter speed. Dial in a high shutter speed 1/800 seemed to work for this one.
• Your aperture needs to be open fairly wide to allow light in, but to shallow a depth of field will mean that you may struggle with your focus. Start at F5 and see where you need to go from there.
• Put your camera in shutter burst mode so that you increase your chances of successfully capturing a photographic splash. Shutter burst mode allows several frames to be fired every time the shutter is pressed (the amount depends on your camera specification).
• Get your assistant or use a prop to mark where the missile will fall and set the focus manually.

Now the prep is complete, let the fun begin! Get your assistant or drop the missile yourself whilst pressing the shutter. Tah Dah!

Fire off a few shots, if your image looks over underexposed then you need to increase your ISO or your aperture. However if you image looks overexposed then you need to up your shutter speed, lower your ISO or decrease your aperture. But if the image looks blurry it’s probably because the shutter speed isn’t fast enough, so increase your shutter speed. Have a fiddle.

If you have caught the high speed photography bug, you could experiment with dripping coloured water in a tank and capturing the amazing shapes.

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A light stencil basically comprises of a box which is lined with reflective material and the stencil itself, which attaches to the end of the box. The whole contraption can be made in a less than an hour from bits and bobs lying around your house.

• A box preferably with a lid (if it doesn’t have one then some additional card will be needed).
• Aluminium foil
• Pencil
• Ruler
• Craft Knife
• Scissors
• Gaffer Tape
• Transparent coloured plastic
• A Speedlite

Firstly, grab yourself a box. I chose one that used to contain reams A4 paper for the printer.  Position the flash light on the top of the box (with the longer side of the flash over the longer side of the box), equidistance from the edges and draw a line from the corner of the flash down to the bottom corners of the box.

Next use a craft knife or scissors to cut down the lines. So now your box should look a bit like this:

Now for the bottom part. Cut out the base of the box leaving a 2cm rim around the edge. So it looks like this.

Next step, is to line the inside the inside of the box with foil. This makes sure that the light is bounced around the box and shoots out the front of the stencil. Once it is line you then need to fix all of the sides in place with generous use of gaffer tape. Don’t be stingy or you might get light leaks.

Next you need to work on creating your stencil, this is the really creative part. I used the lid of the box for the stencil base. If your box didn’t have a handy lid then any old card with do.  Firstly, I drew freehand the image of a little boat and then cut it out using a craft knife. Make sure your edges are nice and sharp so that your stencil will be clearly defined. Check it out below!

If you want your stencil to be in colour you then need to fix some coloured plastic behind your stencil. You could use a coloured plastic bag, or a coloured plastic folder or some coloured gel.

To minimize reflections on the outside of the box cover the stencil with black gaffer tape.  Congrats! You are now ready to take some photos!

• To insure that you have good quality pictures set your camera on ISO 100.
• Put your camera in shutter priority mode (‘TV’ for Time Variant on a Canon or ‘S’ for shutter on a Nikon).
• Dial in a long shutter speed something like 30 seconds to give you enough time in front of the camera.
• If you find that you need longer than 30 seconds put your camera into manual mode and adjust the shutter speed to ‘BULB”. This setting will allow you to take an exposure for as long as want, when the shutter is compressed. You can either get an assistant to hold down the button or use a  Shutter Release cable, or even better a shutter remote this will allow you to lock the shutter open.
• Now position your camera on top of your tripod or a sturdy surface in front of where you are going to shoot.
• Get an assistant or shine a torch on the area you are taking a photo and look through the viewfinder to set the focus.

Once the shutter is pressed let the light stencilling begin. Put your Speedlite in the back of the light stencilling box and use the pilot light to fire the flash, whilst aiming the flash towards the camera.

Review your image on the back of the camera, adjust the power of the flash to get the affect you want. Enjoy!

Here’s some other fun light painting projects for you to try:

How to make a light bokeh

How to use fairy lights for light drawing

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In this slick, paired down, minimalist world we live in, where ‘less,’ is often considered to be ‘more’. We are missing out on all the lumpy, gritty, grainy, coarse, knobbly, bobbly, scratchy, wiry parts! This adds up to a willful neglect of one basic compositional element: texture.

A photograph is physically flat. However a photograph that uses texture, can conjure the feeling that our fingertips would feel something totally different if we were able to touch it. Now that’s, my kind of mind bending, photo trickery!

Hard directional lighting (usually from a small single light source like a Speedlite) can cast dark shadows and enhance texture. This is the right kind of lighting if you are photographing men and you want to give them a more ‘manly’ look. Whiskers and wrinkles are the most common source of texture in portraits and this kind of lighting is perfect for capturing it.

However if you are trying to take a flattering semi glam shot of a women hard directional lighting is a big no, no! Hard light tends to make the surface of her skin look like orange peel. To soften the hard directional light you will need to use a softbox, move the light further away from the subject or use a different light source.

In these portraits, I purposely constructed a bit of texture. I say, ‘Pah’, to boring glam shots and ‘Hello,’ to gritty, bobbly, face shots! For those of you that are interested on how to stick tapioca and poppy seeds to someone’s face, I used firm hold hair wax. Yes, apparently, it was difficult to remove!

So give your photos a much needed sensory dimension and from now on keep your eyes peeled for a bit of rough.

*I clearly made this term up!

I’m talking about a scanner. They are normally used to copy boring bits of A4 sized, household admin. But they are capable of soo much more.

Now, the more pedantic reader might be wondering whether a scan is even a photo. Wonder away my friend, I have no idea! All I know is that if it produces cool photos, it’s cool with me!

Images from a scanner are distinct because they have an incredibly shallow depth of field and can be extremely detailed. The downside of ‘Scannography,’ (as some folk like to call it) is that they are a lot less portable. I can’t imagine hanging one of these around my neck and going for a walk! Also the stuff you are photographing has to be placed directly on the scanner. There’s also a lack of perspective, objects just disappear the further they are from the screen. But testing the scanners limitations just adds to the fun.

• To get a really good quality image you need to increase the dpi (dots per inch) settings on the scanner. How you go about this will depend on the software you have installed. The dpi on these images is 600. But if you have a show coming up at the Guggenheim next month, then you might want to increase it further!
• Gather some objects together to add a layer of visual intrigue. I used a bouquet of flowers, which were well past their best. They look great but unfortunately they smelt like the bottom of the veg recycling box!
• Experiment with changing the background, have some different colored material handy to through over your head, when the scan is in action.

• Health and safety announcement: don’t stare at the bright light whilst the scan is in progress – it might hurt your eyeballs! You have been warned!
• Experiment with the depth of field by changing the distance between your face and the glass.
• Instead of always having your face hang over the scanner, mix it up your portraits by turning the scanner on its end or side and then creating the image.
• Keep experimenting until you are happy with your images.

Import the photos into some photo software and tweak the contrast and saturation. Tah dah. Your work here is done! Remember, you no longer own a boring grey scanner but an amazing image making machine.

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