[Auzzie-Phoenix]

Please remember to post pictures of the items you are mentioning. /generalreminder

[BrianR]

I found a small lunch cooler with no lid discarded in the woods that I've re-purposed as a portable mini-studio. Just add light and it provides fill from all directions. It features a waterproof, easy to sterilize surface, and a convenient carrying handle. Here it is almost in use, a picture of a frog being held where the live subject normally sits:




And the result:




and another:

[Auzzie-Phoenix]

Good repurpose, and good recycling.

[Sage97]

Aluminium foil as a backdrop together with light creates fun bokeh





A piece of normal paper over the flash makes for a great ghetto softbox





An old 1,4, 2 or even 3x converter with the glass removed works great as a macro extension tube

All very cool. Did you use the pop flash for that 2nd shot?

[Sorver]

A cheap way to protect lens is insert them into a foam can cover, that you use to keep your soft drink cool (Warning: Remove drink can first). You can find them at the dollar store. Or if you have a single sock because it's mate has traveled into a black hole, put your lens into the remaining sock. This is works best with thick winter socks.

Love this idea👍

---------- Post added 12-07-14 at 06:05 AM ----------

I found a small lunch cooler with no lid discarded in the woods that I've re-purposed as a portable mini-studio. Just add light and it provides fill from all directions. It features a waterproof, easy to sterilize surface, and a convenient carrying handle. Here it is almost in use, a picture of a frog being held where the live subject normally sits:




And the result:




and another:

That is way cool haha pun intended I will give that a go gosh we have some clever folks here

[joeflynn1966]

Keep you extra SD cards in a filter case

[maltfalc]

i'm stretching the definition of "re-purpose" a bit with this one, but i built myself a 16", 144w, 5500k, flicker-free, continuous ring light out of an aluminum bike rim, some computer power supply parts and $15 worth of 1w white leds from ebay.

[magkelly]

I use car shields as reflectors too, along with white boards, and that white wall board that people use to build room divisions with that I got from Home depot and made into V-flats. I also have re-purposed old picture frames as props and have covered old frames for stretching canvas with sheer curtains to use as light panels. I have tall hardware lights that I use in back of those to make soft boxes. I have a few of those huge Indian tapestries that I use for backdrops. I have tons of lighting related things made from PVC pipe. If I can't afford it, I build it. Have you guys been to DIY Photography? It's a website with tons of tips like this. If not you should check it out. It's saved me tons of $$$ in terms of setting up my studio...

DIY Photography - Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time

[sherrvonne]

I attempted to "attach the elastic loops from the diffuser to each rod hook" (1/8" elastic lol, I have packs of this in all sizes as I am a seamstress) anyway even though I have small hands it was very hard to get my hands into the space where they were to do it so I used a Crochet hook... It worked very well.

---------- Post added 12-23-14 at 10:29 AM ----------

I attempted to "attach the elastic loops from the diffuser to each rod hook" (1/8" elastic lol, I have packs of this in all sizes as I am a seamstress) anyway even though I have small hands it was very hard to get my hands into the space where they were to do it so I used a Crochet hook... It worked very well.

ugh... forgot to remove watermark on photo...ha ha like it's a highly desired and perfect photo

[eddie1960]

Some cool ideas here, mine is an old one i don't see mentioned, I cut a slit on an opaque white plastic film canister to slip over the pop up flash as a mini diffuser (I've used the paper idea as well mentioned above.
handy and i always have some about (I've also just draped a stofen over the pop up )

---------- Post added 23rd Dec 2014 at 12:12 ----------

i'm stretching the definition of "re-purpose" a bit with this one, but i built myself a 16", 144w, 5500k, flicker-free, continuous ring light out of an aluminum bike rim, some computer power supply parts and $15 worth of 1w white leds from ebay.

Very cool

[aurele]

i'm stretching the definition of "re-purpose" a bit with this one, but i built myself a 16", 144w, 5500k, flicker-free, continuous ring light out of an aluminum bike rim, some computer power supply parts and $15 worth of 1w white leds from ebay.

Impressive ! Can you show what is the optical result of such a huge ring light ? I'm just wondering.

[maltfalc]

Impressive ! Can you show what is the optical result of such a huge ring light ? I'm just wondering.

pretty much what you'd expect from a larger light source. compared to a little lens mounted ring light, the light wraps around the sides of close subjects more and doesn't have as much falloff close up. the halo-like shadows are spread out wider and not as dark. the ring highlights in eyes are bigger.

[tim60]

To carry lenses or wine bottles to stop them clacking together - the overnight pack socks from Singapore Airlines. Always worth taking that pack off the plane, even if it seems pretty useless on the plane. BTW the socks have no heel and so are pretty awful to actually wear.

[Dartmoor Dave]

Here's a piece of repurposing that gives a whole new meaning to "rough and ready". We had a partial eclipse of the sun here yesterday, and I needed an ultra-strong ND graduated filter for the shot I had in mind. But of course I didn't want to spend a ton of money on a filter that I might only ever use once.

So I cut a semi-circle out of a blank CD and taped it to an old step-up ring (that has also been repurposed several times before judging by the superglue remnants). The result was about a 14 stop filter that pretty much did the job I had in mind, although the transition was really too abrupt for it to really function as a proper graduated. I ended up merging one shot with the filter and one shot without it in Photoshop.

Here's the filter:



And here's the end result:

[Auzzie-Phoenix]

Still a great idea. Necessity is the mother of invention. Ingenuity is the skill that lets us realize the potential of things on-hand/nearby and make use of them. Invention and innovation tend to be the results.

Keep the submissions coming, this is great stuff.