DIY Creative Tips & Tricks to Try!

There are a multitude of tips and tricks out there for photographers that it seems like we never come across anything new - until now!  Below is a list of eight totally weird but totally cool tid-bits of knowledge to add to your growing inventory of photographic wisdom!  Some you may be familiar with, but I guarantee there is something new here to consider one day!



1.  Don't have a tripod?  Use a lamp!  

Yes, that's right, a lamp has about the same thread size as the filter thread used on tripods.  If you're in a bind or feeling innovative try this out!


2. A PEZ dispenser will fit on a hotshoe mount.

Yep, you read that correctly!  Next time you anticipate photographing a young child and need something to help them focus their eyes on your camera, try mounting a cool PEZ dispenser on your camera to capture their attention!

The base of the dispenser is just a tiny bit wider than the mount so you will have to trim a little off using a knife to get it to fit, but I am sure this cheap trick will pay off!

3.  Turn day to night!

Shooting in daylight but not getting enough diversity?  Try this trick:

Turn your flash power up really high--even to the maximum.  This will definitely make the subject extremely over-exposed but if you adjust your camera settings to expose for the subject it will make the background look extremely dark because you're not exposing for the ambient light and the flash isn't hitting it.  This will make it look like it’s night time even if it’s the middle of the day.  Try it!

4.  Macro photography without a macro lens.


Take it off, turn it around and shoot!  It is recommended that you use a tripod when shooting this way, maybe this would be a good opportunity to try out that lamp!

"There are four things you need to know about using this trick: (1) Your camera won’t take a picture with the lens off unless you’re in manual mode.  (2) The best focal length seems to be around 50mm, so either a 50mm prime or an 18-55mm kit lens would be perfect! (3) Obviously, you lose autofocus since your lens isn’t attached to the camera.  Focus is achieved by simply moving closer to or further away from the subject, and (4) The camera can’t open up the aperture, so you’ll do it with your hand.  On the back of the lens (the side you mount on the camera), move the little plastic slider piece that controls the aperture.  If you look in the lens while doing it, you’ll see the hole open up." (Harmer)

5.  Delete tourists without all the editing.

Got an awesome shot but people keep getting in the way?

Step 1: Set your camera on a tripod, or lamp.

Step 2: Take a picture about every 10 seconds until you have about 15 shots, depending on how fast and how many people are walking around.

Step 3: Open all of the images in Photoshop using File > Scripts > Statistics.   Choose “median” and select the files you took.  (The “statistics” script is only available in Photoshop Extended or in the Creative Cloud version of Photoshop, however, you can get a somewhat similar effect in recent versions of Photoshop Elements by going to Enhance > Photomerge > Scene Cleaner.)

Step 4: Boom!  Photoshop finds what is different in the photos and simply removes it!  Since the people moved around, it fills the area where someone was standing with part of another photo where no one was there and now you have a clean scene as if you were the only one there!


 6.  Shaped bokeh.

Have you ever seen bokeh with lights in the shape of hearts, trees, or other shapes?  Here is a trick to get the shaped effect without buying an expensive shape kit!  All you have to do is cut out a piece of black paper the size of your lens glass.  Then use a sharp knife or razor blade to cut a shape on in the middle of the paper.  The shape should be slightly bigger than a nickel.  You will only see this effect if you are shooting with a large aperture like 1.4 or so; if you’re shooting at f/5.6 on a kit lens you probably won’t see the effect at all.

I have actually tried this myself and was unable to get a completely satisfying result.  I definitely got it to work--I tried hearts and stars--but I had a really tough time trying to get rid of the vignette.  I was using a full frame camera so maybe if you try this using a crop sensor I would really like to hear about your results!

7.  Circular reflector as a backdrop.

Sometimes when you're on location you might get a shot that would look really good against a white background.  This is where your reflector will come in handy!

"The trick for making this technique work is to use positive exposure compensation.  The camera will try and dim down the white background to a dull gray because it thinks the white is overexposed. About 1 stop of exposure compensation will make the reflector background look bright white." (Harmer)


8.  Insulation reflector board.

Some of my favorite pieces of equipment have cost me less than $1, this is practically no different.

Most circular reflectors only work for a headshots of one person.  You can purchase a large, full-body reflector but they can often cost around $70.  Simply purchase insulation board for $5 and then cover the back and edges with white duct tape.  You can find insulation board with reflective silver backing at any home improvement store and now you will have a large, lightweight multipurpose reflector!





Do you have a cool trick or tip to add to the list?  Let me know in the comments below!  If you get a chance to try one of these out I would love to hear about your experience too!

Thanks for reading today!

Works Cited

Harmer, Jim. "9 Weird Photography Tricks That Actually Work!" improvephotography. Improve Photography LLC, n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2014.  <http://improvephotography.com/8806/photography-tricks/ >

Harmer, Jim. "bokeh trick." Photograph. improvephotography. Improve Photography LLC, n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2014.  <http://improvephotography.com/8806/photography-tricks/ >

Harmer, Jim. "candy dispenser camera trick." Photograph. improvephotography. Improve Photography LLC, n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2014.  <http://improvephotography.com/8806/photography-tricks/ >

Harmer, Jim. "crowd before-after." Photograph. improvephotography. Improve Photography LLC, n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2014.  <http://improvephotography.com/8806/photography-tricks/ >

Harmer, Jim. "day-night flash." Photograph. improvephotography. Improve Photography LLC, n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2014.  <http://improvephotography.com/8806/photography-tricks/ >

Harmer, Jim. "JIM4025-300x198." Photograph. improvephotography. Improve Photography LLC, n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2014.  <http://improvephotography.com/8806/photography-tricks/ >

Harmer, Jim. "lamp camera trick." Photograph. improvephotography. Improve Photography LLC, n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2014.  <http://improvephotography.com/8806/photography-tricks/ >

Harmer, Jim. "lens backwards." Photograph. improvephotography. Improve Photography LLC, n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2014.  <http://improvephotography.com/8806/photography-tricks/ >

Harmer, Jim. "reflector board." Photograph. improvephotography. Improve Photography LLC, n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2014.  <http://improvephotography.com/8806/photography-tricks/ >