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.

Tired of having to go to the photo store each time you want your pictures developed? Too poor to own your own dark room? Do you still use a dot-matrix printer? Ran out of photo paper for that urgent portfolio?

Solve it all using over-the-counter blueprint paper and glass cleaner (Windex in this case).

Nope, we haven't quite completely flipped out yet as the process that we are about to tell you about is completely plausible, you can try it right after reading this article.

The process requires you to suspend the sensitive side of your blueprint paper over a pan of glass cleaner. The person who originally came up with this idea used a styrofoam lid as his pan, and a cake cooling rack to put his paper on so that the glass cleaner fumes will still go straight into the blueprint paper.

True, your pictures aren't exactly going to be in full-color, but you do get them in this really funky monotone purple. Very vintage!

This would appeal to alot of you who are in the market for a clamp that will fix itself to any graspable object, without having to spend huge bucks in order to do so. This simple yet effective tutorial only incorporates the use of a cheap metal tripod (guessing it doesn't have to be metal) and a single hand grip clamp.

Firstly buy your parts, you will need a small portable tripod, and secondly, a strong grip DIY clamp. The clamp will have to be made out of plastic due to the drilling, but also make sure that it is super strong, otherwise you risk dropping your camera.

View the rest of the tutorial after the Jump...

We do know that most of the time, you really shouldn't scrimp if you want to get the best accessories for your camera. But in this case, you won't need loads of it.

There are many makers of camera lenses out there but the ones being sold are just too expensive to experiment with. (A Nikon shift lens goes for over $1000.) In DigiHack, dennison provides us with an inexpensive way to create your own shift lens. You'll need a lens, a medium-sized flexible rubber plunger, a cardboard and a plastic body cap.

Using a knife, you hollow out the inside part and smoothen any burrs or rough spots.

Take your plunger and cut a hole in the top where you're going to stick in your lens (in this case, he used an 80mm Carl Zeiss lens). Make sure that the hole is tight enough so the lens is supported.

You then cut out a ring from the cardboard for your backing. The inner circle should be the same as the diameter and circumference of the lens cap and the outer part is the same as the plunger's bottom. You should hotglue this together. You can then attach it to the camera.

Here's an example of a picture he took. Notice that the eyelashes of the model are far clearer than most other parts of the picture, giving the photographer control over the viewer's gaze.

It's fairly easy to make pinhole cameras and I'm sure that some photographers and enthusiasts have created at least one of those 6x9 medium-format pinhole wonders that can have eight shots a roll. So, why not create a pinhole camera that has a wider field of view and high capacity at the same time? John of TeamDroid.com had a clever idea. Just by moving the pinhole closer to the film plane and rotating it to aspect 90 degrees, you can get as much as 30 images on a single roll of film and still get a pretty good sized negative.

As with any other Do-It-Yourself project, having notes and sketches is a good start-off point. Once you've put all your ideas into paper, you need to get the materials for the panoramic pinhole camera. John opted to use a black foam core for the project because it's very easy to work with it as it's light proof and relatively strong. Common white glue should be used because super glue dissolves the foam quite easily. It takes a certain amount of "gluing" skills to make sure the pieces don't fall apart. The only part wherein you need to be more precise is in creating the small rectangular box that holds the film away from the pinhole.

    

And when you're done putting the pieces together, you can start shooting away. Here's a typical result from the pinhole camera:

Final tip from John: When you go to advance the film you have to make a mental note where the top of the frame is and move it just that much and a little more. I overlapped the frame on this one a little, oops. I’m sure that the more I shoot with this the better I’ll get. I think that this is a viable format for a pinhole camera.  I was able to get 26 images on my first roll of film, this is comparable to what I get on my Horizon 202 35mm camera. With a better grip on just how far to turn the advance I should be able to get 30 or more frames. The distortion of the image is minimal and the field of view is at least 80 degrees. It’s a fun camera to use, I’ll make the revision more compact. Maybe housed in a tube or a prism.

Click on the Read link to get the step-by-step guide.

I was watching Mythbusters recently where they tried to light a fire using ice as the focusing element.  It was pretty cool (no pun intended) to watch as they were finally successful.  The big hurdle being that the hot sun was obviously going to melt the ice, diminishing the focal strength of the 'lens'. 

Well Matthew Wheeler responded to the source of the Mythbusters' trials, Scientific American.  He found the results weren't that difficult at all, and he wanted to take things to the next level.  So he decided to make a lens out of ice that he could use to actually take photographs.  The link below shows some of the impressive results he achieved.  The clearly, non-winter shots are the ones that impress me the most.

Do you want to make Paris Hilton say "That's Hot!" in envy? Then put some bling into your bare walls. Here's how:

First gather your materials. You need some of your favorite photographs (nothing says bling more than your own pictures), CD Jewel Cases, cardboard, scissors, ruler, tape and some velcro.

Next, take out the paper insert. You're going to use this as a template for the cardboard.

Once you've done that, cut your cardboard pieces to size same with your photographs. It should measure 5 3/8x4 5/8 to snugly fit into the back of the jewel cases. Attach them together with double-sided tape.

Put it inside the jewel cases. Making sure that your photos are facing out. Stick a piece of the velcro on the back of the case and the other to the wall.

Voila! A photo album and wall decor all in one. The best thing about it is that you can change your photographs anytime you want. And since you didn't bore a hole through your wall, you can move the frames around to make for a new design.