DIY Projects for Photography
Note : This site was started as photobuilds.co.uk in 2019. As the content has grown our site visitor base has become international. According to the last set of stats only about 20% of visitors now come from the UK. As a result I made the decision to move to a .com domain rather than a UK one. All of the site content has now been migrated from the old site, which now only contains pictures and forwarding links.
Back to the intro …
I’ve been taking photographs ever since I got my first camera when I was 10 years old, which was way back in the days of film. I bought my first studio lights and basic light modifiers (a pair of brollies) in the days before digital and happily shot portraits with them for years.
It wasn’t until I went digital and started experimenting with macro photography and general studio still-life that I realised that more light control might be useful. This gap in my resources was reinforced when I read Light: Science and Magic, which improved my lighting technique but highlighted my need for better light control.
Unfortunately at the time most commercial light modifiers were too expensive for an amateur like myself. That’s when I found some articles online about building your own equipment. Inspired, I made my first beauty dish for a speedlight using a plastic bowl, a drinks coaster and some bent metal: and it worked!
Since then I’ve built all manner of photography related projects. I get great satisfaction out of making stuff that actually works and serves a useful purpose. This site is an attempt at sharing some of my creations in the hope that they will inspire others to get building.
My builds use a wide range of technologies and materials. I’ve used concrete, neoprene, metal, cardboard, wood, plastic … plus electronics and software. If it seems useful for a particular project, I’ll try to make something with it. Since the end of 2020 I’ve had a 3D printer in house, so a lot of project parts that would have previously been fabricated from other materials are now 3D printed. For most of them fabricating from “found” materials would still be an option if no printer was available.
Some of the products highlighted in my builds have affiliate links: these pay me a small commission, which to some extent offsets the cost of materials and tools used in development and prototyping.