📷 / DIY Photography Hacks /

In this post you’ll find tutorials and guides for DIY projects and hacks that can not only save you some money, but also get the great results that you’re after.
Enjoy!

1.Shoot Hazy and Ethereal Photos Using a Sandwich Bag and Colored Markers
(taken from Peta Pixel)

Super simple trick for adding a hazy, ethereal effect to your photographs: wrap a plastic sandwich bag around your lens.
It sounds ridiculous, but the results you get are actually quite nice!
First, find yourself a sandwich bag — those thing plastic bags that you carry sandwiches around in.
On the closed side of the bag, use your hands to tear a hole. Don’t use scissors, since you’ll want the edges to be rough, uneven, and slightly random.

Take the open end of the bag and slide it over your camera lens, with the hole end extending a little past the end of your lens. You want to make sure it can be seen in your viewfinder. Don’t cover up the middle portion of the frame, since you’ll want a clear section to see your subject through.

Voila! You’ve got yourself an instant hazy, retro, light leak look for just pennies:

2. Create Your Own Bokeh
Bokeh, or the out-of-focus areas of the photograph, takes on different shapes based on the construction of the lens. As a result, you can create your own custom bokeh effects by manipulating your lens.

3.Blank CD case is the perfect rain guard for your lens (Tech Radar)

You'll need the cover from a case of blank CDs (the ones from large multi-packs are ideal), polythene (such as the stuff used to pack sofas and mattresses) and gaffer tape, which is strong and easy to tear off the roll.

You have the whole step by step hack here : http://www.techradar.com/how-to/photography-video-capture/cameras/diy-photography-hacks-why-a-blank-cd-case-is-the-perfect-rain-guard-for-your-lens-1320968

4.Make a powerful macro lens with an empty toilet paper tube (Tech Radar)
If you want the close-up experience but don't want the expense of buying a macro lens, it's easy enough to create your own with a few household items, plus a standard prime lens.

Make the extender
Cut the toilet roll tube to roughly 100mm, then tape a piece of neoprene inside to help cut out any light reflections. If you don't have any black neoprene, black paper will also work. Take a body cap and carefully cut a hole in the front, then tape the tube securely to the body cap.

Attach the lens
When all is secure, attach the lens, reversed so that the front element goes into the tube, and tape into place. Mount the camera on a tripod and move the subject into focus. There's a small lever on the back of the lens: move this to close down the aperture and secure with Blu-tack.

Take your shots
Set the camera to aperture-priority mode. The camera will say it has set itself to f/0. Next, set the self timer to avoid any shake or image blur while shooting, and take a few test images. Check the results and adjust the aperture lever with the Blu-tack as needed.

And here are some useful videos to check out: