For everyone who likes to take photos, we all know how lighting can either make or break a picture. Either there's not enough light or there's too much. Either you can't see your subject or... you can't see your subject since it's been taken over the sheer brightness of everything.

So, for cases like these, we need proper lighting paraphernalia. Unfortunately, the said paraphernalia are not exactly cheap, so let's just make one! Using good, thick cardboard, a pair of scissors, some glue, and bits of Velcro and silk, we can all make our own soft box.

For the uninitiated, a soft box is an accessory whose purpose is to properly diffuse light on your subject. This way, your subject still remains well-lighted without having to appear so harsh in your photos.

Over at diyphotography.net are complete directions on how to create the soft box, as well as a pattern that you can download and print out so that you can use it as a guide once you get to making your own. Once you've made one, you can then easily mount it on your camera-flash for those professional-looking shots.

Click on Read for the DIY directions.

Every photographer knows that even the tiniest speck in the camera lens can prove disastrous in any photograph. With this issue in mind, Canon produced their own version of a dust-shaking camera. Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi SLR camera uses a Self Cleaning Sensor Unit to shake that dust away from the camera. It uses ultrasonic vibrations to shake dust off of the surface that keeps the low pass filter in front of the camera’s sensor clean. These ultrasonic vibrations can be activated for one second each time the camera is turned on or off, or via a command in the menu.

The dust that shakes loose from the camera is then captured into an adhesive strip so it won't float back onto the filter. Of course this technology doesn't guarantee a 100% dust-free camera lens, but in case that a speck or two remains, users can activate the Dust Delete Data function. This maps the size and place of any remaining dust, and the mapping information is attached as metadata to subsequent photos. Users can apply the dust delete function after they transfer the photos to a computer which subtracts the dust image from the photo.

The 10.1 megapixel EOS Digital Rebel XTi will be available in mid-September for the price of $899, which already includes a zoom lens kit. This model is Canon's latest offering right after releasing the EOS Kiss.

If you're still looking for that perfect lens hood for your camera, maybe the reason why you still haven't got one is that the one you probably wanted to have is a bit too expensive. But you can always make a camera hood yourself, and it would only cost you a small amount (if any at all).

You can use recyclable materials like plastic bottles. You have to make sure, though, that the bottle you're going to use as a lens hood will fit  the camera just fine.

In this case, since the plastic bottle isn't the same size as a typical Russky lens, the cut has to be slightly concave to make the fit perfect. When you're faced with the same problem, you make sure to cut the material properly for a perfect fit.

After opening the neck hole, try to fit the homemade camera hood and see if it fits well. You should then paint it flat or matt black to make it look like the standard camera hood.

These are really easy steps if you want an inexpensive lens hood for your camera that works.