I've come across a few good tricks on www.diyphotography.net and www.photojojo.com lately, and I thought I'd share them with you! You might want to try them yourself

Create your own Bokeh in different shapes!

This is a cool idea to try, and all it requires is a large aperture lens and a sheet of black paperboard. If you scroll through the comments, you'll see the cool results people have gotten using this tutorial!

[link]

If you don't know what Bokeh is, this is a great example:


Definition: Bokeh is a photographic term referring to the appearance of out-of-focus areas in an image produced by a camera lens using a shallow depth of field. (via Wikipedia)

Make your own flash diffuser from an old film container

I don't know about you, but I really, really hate that shiny and washed out look a normal flash gives a person in a photo. But this tutorial can show you how to get rid of that and give your photos a nice, warm glow using just a white film container and a few other materials. It also requires a pop-up flash.

[link]

Eight great ways to include shadows in your photos

As the author of this tutorial said, sometimes shadows can be a major problem. They can ruin a photo by taking away the focus from the subject of the photo. But this tutorial shows you how to take advantage of shadows and turn them into the subject of your photo, to fill empty space, or to just make a photo more interestig.

[link]

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Those are just a few of my favorites that I've run across, and if you're looking for more, just check out www.diyphotography.net or www.photojojo.com for more tips and tutorials!