PART 7

Photography AND Video

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Larry Cotton enjoys photographing birds, but he found it difficult to do well. Being a retired engineer, however, Larry figured out a way to put the birds where he wants them—by making a remote-controlled bird feeder that slowly rotates his subjects into the best position. Add a long-distance shutter control for the camera, and the old quip, “Look at the birdie!” takes on a whole new meaning. Larry reveals his system to you here so you can try it yourself.

Have you ever wished you could get a good overhead shot of your house or property? Jim Newell needed to, and he figured out an approach to aerial photography that’s a lot simpler than building and piloting a drone. He’ll show you how to fashion a lightweight, programmable camera assembly that can take a ride with a helium balloon up to 300 feet and snap pictures of everything below.

Richard Kadrey is best known as the author of the Sandman Slim series and other urban fantasy novels and short stories. He’s also an excellent photographer. In his article “Looking at the Low End,” Richard explains how to take eerie, unearthly looking photos using infrared.

The popularity of 3D films has waxed and waned over the years, but they have never been more popular than they are now. Eric Kurland’s commitment to 3D has never wavered. He’s president of the LA 3-D Club, director of the LA 3-D Movie Festival, and CEO of 3D SPACE: The Center for Stereoscopic Photography, Art, Cinema, and Education. Eric is also a 3D consultant and stereographer for independent and studio productions. He’ll show you how to create your own 3D video camera setup and create a portable system for viewing your 3D movies.

Maker Media’s Tyler Winegarner is an outstanding video producer and cinematographer. If you have ever longed for the kind of lighting unit the professionals use but can’t afford it, Tyler will show you how to make your own professional-quality unit for less than a hundred dollars—out of a brownie pan!

Make: contributing writer and all-around maker Sean Michael Ragan presents another money-saving DIY project. Enhance your in-home viewing experience by making a retro-reflective, glass-bead projection screen that’s even more luminous than a titanium white screen for your home theater.

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Speaking of screens, artist and UCLA film professor Bill Barminski is more interested in the green kind. If you have ever wanted to add special effects to your home movies, green screens are the key—or, perhaps more accurately, the chromakey. Bill will show you how to set up your own green screen backdrop, light and place figures in front of it, and find inexpensive software to start making your own FX.

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