Cheapskate Tuesday 8: giving your photos a “painted” look without Photoshop

ab123

Here are the results of three alternative photo processing paradigms.

1: the unaltered image.

2: the same image processed with Adobe Photoshop’s “Accented Edges” filter.

3: the original photo processed by Catherine Scott, using just her hands, some paint, and a paintbrush.

Of the two altered images, I prefer number three, because it takes the crow in a more Impressionistic direction. Catherine points out that it doesn’t use expensive software, and took less time than our so-called “1 hour” photo printing place down the street. Your results may vary.

acrowcopy

Stay tuned tomorrow for a post on Treetrunk Spiders!

Cheapskate Tuesday 7: Cheapskate Flash Diffuser Mark II

Mar5

*NOTE! The instructions here are great for cutting out a pattern to fit your flash, but check out the Cheapskate Diffuser MKIII instructions for a better method of general construction

Adrian Thysse has just announced a macro tools workshop for you Albertans, and Alex Wild has just put up a post about diffusing an MT-24 EX, so the time is ripe for macro flash diffusion discussion. This week’s Cheapskate Tuesday is an overhaul of the Cheapskate Flash Diffuser, essentially transforming it into a small softbox. This update uses the same plastic diffuser material as well as craft “foamie” material. A glue gun or other adhesive option is also required.

The two chief advantages to this updated device are: 1. the diffusion material stands off several more centimeters from the flash head, so the illumination of the diffuser is more even. 2. The new device is stiff and solid when mounted to your speedlight, so it won’t flop around. The disadvantages are the more complex build, larger folded size, and increased weight (48 vs. 12 g). Another disadvantage is that this is no longer universal, but must be made to fit the dimensions of a particular speedlight. Here I have illustrated a build that would work for a YongNuo 560, 565 or a Canon 580. The generalized schematics to adapt the design to any speedlight are found below. If possible, I will have some shots from the field taken with this soon.

Please follow along below for the essentials on how to construct the Cheapskate Diffuser Mark II. Just like an update to a Canon lens, this Mark II will run you three times the price. So budget around 3 dollars. Because being a PhD student wrecks my brain and hands, I had to rely on my local Master’s Student Catherine Scott to help me out with all the tough geometry, hand modelling and cutting! Pythagoras also helped immensely.

This “foamie” craft material is the basis for the modification. You will need two black sheets and two white sheets.

Using the same plastic diffusion material as in the Mk I, mark off 4 cm from each side.

For the wide sides, cut out the pictured shapes in both the white and black foamie material.

Same with the narrow sides. Make two in black and two in white.

8 foamie pieces of four kinds and a marked plastic sheet.

make creases along the lines previously drawn

lay down a bead of hot glue along the creased 4 cm

glue down the black pieces on the corresponding sides. Black goes on the “outside”. Then glue the white pieces on the inside, sandwiching the plastic in between.

ready for cutting out

cut out the corners

cut out velcro to size

ready to rock

mounted to the YN 560.

these schematics are for designing custom diffusers for differently sized diffusion material or a different speedlight. Here is how to measure a flash head and mark off the diffuser material.

schematic for the larger pieces. Note that B and C are the dimensions from the previous diagram, and that F must be measured.

schematic for the smaller pieces. First calculate G, and make sure F is the same as measured in the previous diagram.

UPDATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

found a Camponotus alate in the hallway at school today, so I had an opportunity to test out the CFDMkII

Cheapskate Tuesday 6: A simple flash bracket

Feb26

So far on Cheapskate Tuesday I have desscribed two different ways of getting close to a subject, with macro diopters, and the use of extension tubes and cheap 50 mm lenses. I have also covered flash diffusion and radio triggers. There is one element missing for a cheapskate macro rig, and that is some kind of bracket to mount the diffused flash to the camera. This is necessary because although it is sometime practical to hold a speedlight in one hand while shooting, it is often nice to be able to hold and fire everything with one hand free to hold back vegetation, or steady the subject.

Below is one easy option to accomplish this.

On the left is a simple aluminum flash bracket (or a piece of one anyway). They can be found on ebay, if you search for “flat flash bracket”. They may run anywhere between 3 and 10 dollars. A better option would be to visit a used camera store, as they probably have oodles of these sitting in a dusty box somewhere. The second item is an 11″ variable friction arm, also available via ebay. This device allows you to connect any two objects that both have a female 1/4″ thread. The arm allows you to flex the central joint along one axis, and a great range of movement on the ends via a ball and socket type linkage. When the main knob is tightened, the whole assembly locks rigid. These two inexpensive items can be put together using a 1/4″ nut, some washers and a lock washer.

The arm can be used to cantilever the flash (with triggers or ttl cable, and diffused!) out over or beside the subject.

The flash can be oriented to either side, or the entire assembly can be rotated so the friction arm is to the left or right.

The bracket can be used as a standard flash bracket as well, and can bring the flash nicely off-axis for paparazzo-style shooting with wider lenses.

See below some examples where I have used this type of bracket. I have found it is a simple, cheap and lightweight general purpose bracket for many shooting situations. .

This French Guianan toad was illuminated from above using the friction-arm mounted flash.

This setup works especially well working very close, as in this portrait of a damselfly.

This ant-mimicking spider was also amenable to use of this bracket. Because the subject is illuminated from such a close source, falloff is a problem. In an upcoming Cheapskate Tuesday, I will share how I get around this problem.

Cheapskate Tuesday 4: 50 mm 1.8

Feb12

If you need a useful fast lens for a DSLR, why not consider the inexpensive 50 mm 1.8? Canon makes one, Nikon makes one, everyone makes one. They are cheap, they are fast and they are sharp. They are super versatile used as is, and can be excellent for closeups when used with extension tubes (I will cover this in an upcoming post). Normal on full frame and moderate telephoto on an APS-C, they are worth having around.

If you have 100 bucks and no fast prime, go get one (you too, Mike!).

See gallery below for some examples of what it can do.

Cheapskate Tuesday 3: Trigger Happy

Feb5

No not the Weird Al song (although that is awesome). I refer of course to radio triggers. What is a radio trigger? Well, very simply this type of device transmits a signal which then tells a receiver unit to make a pulse of electricity, which fires either a flash or your camera. If the transmitter is mounted on your camera, the trigger will command receivers to fire flashes or other cameras mated to receivers with a trigger cable.

I have been using the Yongnuo YN-602 triggers, but many of the more modern ones use a transceiver design, with each unit being able to act as both a transmitter and a receiver. The YongNuo products are cheap, and a transmitter with two receivers is about 54 bucks. Other brands may be even less expensive.

How does this work in practice and what can it be used for? Well, this summer, while sitting in front of this Osprey nest in Port Moody, I had my camera set up on a tripod, with a 300 mm lens aimed and focused on the nest. Rather than stand by the tripod with my finger on the trigger, I mounted a receiver on the hotshoe and held the transmitter in my hand. This way I was free to move around and not jostle my camera while waiting for the very infrequent visits by the adult Ospreys. When an osprey was about to land, I would trigger the camera, which was set to high speed burst mode, and get some shots…Maybe not the most elegant shooting, but fun and relaxing.

This Bombus vosnesenskii, was taken with my 100 mm lens and Yongnuo triggers firing the two speedlights mounted to a special bracket on my camera (to be covered in an upcoming post). In this case, the trigger is being used for its most common purpose, namely to trigger flashes.

A sidelong portrait of the charming Tailed Frog (also to be covered in an upcoming post) was also shot using the trigger to fire a flash, this time with a single speedlight with a Cheapskate Diffuser over the frog.

This unusual shot of a male Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus) cleaning out the nest hole of baby poop was a bit more involved. It used two Yongnuo transmitters, one in my hand commanding a receiver attached to the “cable release” ( a 2.5 mm jack) to trigger the camera (as with the osprey shot), and the other transmitter on the hotshoe commanding a speedlight near the nest to fire. This froze the bird in flight, and allows us to see what was going on.

These triggers can also be used for other things, such as triggering studio mains and other larger lights. Another useful trick is to combine them with Magic Lantern software to trigger recording of video on Canon DSLR’s. Probably the coolest usage would be to use them to trigger your camera in situations that would be impossible or too dangerous otherwise such as near shy or dangerous animals. The range is about 100 m or so, so you will have lots of room!

These things are versatile and cheap, so get trigger happy!

Cheapskate Tuesday 2: The Raynox DCR 250

Jan29

This shot of a sharpshooter, Oncometopia nigricans, was taken with a compact superzoom and a Raynox DCR 250 lit with the onboard flash and some styrofoam bowls (see below).

Much of the reason I got into photography is the desire to document the wonderful world of insects. This is the realm of macrophotography and is a great one for beginners to get into, because stellar results can come from even modest equipment (provided you are willing to work to achieve them).

One of the best pieces of equipment to get going in macro is the Raynox DCR 250. This marvelous piece of glass fits on the front of a lens and allows you to snap some great high magnification shots. If you are hesitating about getting a macro lens, but still want to get some nice closeups, this is your tool. It costs about 70-90 bucks.

These types of attachments are often called “diopters” or “close-up filters”, but the difference between these and most others on the market is that these ones don’t suck . They are a 3 element design, and are multi-coated for good contrast and flare control. When using this lens adapter, you use your zoom to set your magnification, and then the focus for the close work. Using my DSLR with it attached to the front of my 18-55 IS (kit zoom), I can fill the frame with something 35 mm across. This is not quite 1: 1, but getting there.

If you do not have an SLR, fear not! It also makes a wonderful attachment for compacts, especially the so called “superzooms”. You may need a special adapter to fit it to, but once it is on, the strong telephoto character of the superzoom allows some pretty good closeup ability.

My early days shooting macro I used the combination of the Raynox and a Canon S2IS extensively. I loved the versatility of this combination, and I sometimes still miss it! Below is a monstrously ugly photo I once took of that setup. Here you can see the styrofoam bowl which acts as a flash diffuser for the onboard flash fitted around the bayonet adapter,. The Oncometopia nigricans photo at the top was taken with this setup, as were many of my favorite macro shots.

Below you can see the Raynox itself. It comes shipped with a clip on adapter (visible in the shot above) to mount it to various sized filter threads, but this is somewhat flimsy and will break at some point. The interior portion is threaded, so you can just get a step-up ring from 43 mm to whatever size filter thread you want to attach it to.

Here is a shot I took yesterday of a Polistes aurifer (from the lab!) using a borrowed (thanks Mike!) Canon G12 and Raynox DCR250. The light is the YN460 with the Cheapskate diffuser featured in last week’s Cheapskate Tuesday.

This is a subject that is close to home for many of you, the Cellar Spider, Pholcus phalangiodes shot last night with a Canon A720, the styrofoam bowl diffuser, and onboard flash.

The equipment used to capture the Cellar Spider. The camera was 50 bucks at a pawn shop.

The same Polistes aurifer male from the lab, this time shot with my DSLR and the inexpensive EFS18-55 IS with Raynox DCR 250, also lit with the Cheapskate Diffuser. This same lens combo is often used to stunning effect by Techuser, a.k.a. Brazilian nature photography guru João P. Burini of Primal Shutter.

The combo in question. EFS 18-55 IS II, a lens you can probably buy for 100 bucks, and the DCR 250.

To sum up, the Raynox is an adaptable piece of equipment, and unlike many macro adapters, this one is actually good. I no longer have one of these, having given mine away a couple years back to an aspiring macro shooter from French Guiana, but picking it up again to write this up makes me nostalgic. I think I will have to end with a gallery of some of my favorite shots with this awesome little lens.

: A hiding green anole makes a great subject

: Probably my most ripped-off photo ever. You’re welcome, sleazy pest companies.

: Awww!

: A Blue at dawn.

: The Raynox will get you in close!

: Metallic Halictids are just awesome

: An Anthidiellum

: Robber, chillaxing

: Maybe you have seen this one before…

: Notice the Strepsiptera

: Roving out. Pentatomid nymphs on Brazilian Peppertree leaf.

: Mating sharpshooters

: You can clearly see the highlights corresponding to the styrofoam bowl diffuser

: Phidippus audax…Beautiful chelicerae

: Classic Candy Apple Red

: Cicindela dorsalis media

Cheapskate Tuesday 1: cheap flash diffuser

Jan22

Nabid at Burnaby Lake Park
the subject was illuminated with the cheapskate diffuser

Hi, and welcome to Cheapskate Tuesday! Here I will try to convey how ~~I mess up my photos by cheaping out~~ I save money by applying a DIY ethic to photography projects. I plan to explain as many of my tricks as I can, and then will scour around teh internets for cool looking budget-minded photo mods and tricks.

This week, another version the ever popular macro flash diffuser…There are endless varieties, but the whole purpose of them is to enlarge the size of the (small) light source relative to your (probably small) subject, improving the quality of light by filling in shadows and reducing specular highlights.

I will admit, this idea is not wholly my own. When I read this post by Piotr Naskrecki (one of the greatest close-up shooters around) and he mentioned using file folders to diffuse speedlights, I immediately went out to the dollar store to find some…I am not sure if I found the same ones, but here is what I riffed off of that:

This badboy you can build for roughly two dollars. So say you have your flash, and since you are budget minded it is a beat up Yongnuo 460-II (35 bucks used, baby)…

First things first…You have velcro around the flash head, right? If not, put some there… This will be important later. I like to use the soft side, because sometimes I cuddle up with my speedlights.

Next, you need to get a file folder such as this:

Look for yours at a dollar store, or budget office supply store. The key feature of this is that it has a white plastic interior…It is almost the thickness of paper, but it is a nice tough white plastic… I have no idea what the composition is, but the stuff is tough! It supposedly is imported by DTSC Imports in Burnaby BC, and made in China.

Next, tear away all the pink and transparent plastic, leaving two beautiful sheets of white plastic:

Next, fold one of the white sheets so that the two shorter sides meet midway…Give it a good crease.

Next, cut two flash-head-sized pieces of self adhesive velcro (the hook side this time!)

Stick those about where you might expect them to go:

And voilà!

Stick it to your flash head:

Make a few, throw em in your bag, and there you go.
I like this modifier in particular because it stores as flat as a sheet of paper. The plastic is so tough, you don’t have to worry about it tearing, and it won’t get dirty like fabric-covered softboxes. Also it costs 50 cents….

I made extensive use of this simple mod on my recent field excursion to French Guiana, and appreciated the simple stowing and quick deployment this device offered. Here are some examples of what it can do:

Hoppers in front of the shower? No problem!

This ant is in a world of hurt

It works on Rhinella maragritifera (crapaud feuille) as well.

Try these diffusers on crickets!

This glass frog was a little challenging…

Jumping spiders are a good way to test any flash diffuser!

Note: you could probably use the pink translucent stuff to gel your flash for some really weird looks, or perhaps for other arts ‘n’ crafts. The transparent stuff might make a good humidifying cover for an insect cage, or whatever else you might use transparent plastic for. Good luck and good shooting!

Ibycter

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