This year I made the grand purchase of a shiny new DSLR, a camera I've been dreaming of owning for a couple of years now. To be honest, I didn't jump on the photography bandwagon along with everyone else when they discovered Flicker and Facebook photo albums. I guess I didn't really buy that just anyone could be a master photographer. Sorry. Now having an interest in film, these two fields of visual arts were bound to collide, but instead of taking pictures of rolling hills and stupid angles of street signs, I've been kicking it in the dark with the long exposure settings and a flashlight. And now thanks to this light stencil tutorial by Flickr-er tdub303, I've got a new project to look forward to.

I can't believe I never thought of this. And yes, I know I say that all the time, but really. I guess I can't say that I've ever created a successful stencil myself. Not that I've tried. I surprisingly don't use a lot of spray paint in my day to day life. Anyway, the instructions are simple. Design your piece and transfer it to some thin cardboard (like a cereal box) free hand or through your printer (apparently that works?). Cut it up with an X-acto knife and cover the back with some foggy cellophane (clear cellophane won't work here).

When it comes to actually using the stencil in your photography, it is suggested to use the flash of another camera (doesn't matter what kind as long as it has a flash) from behind the stencil. I wouldn't have thought of that myself, especially since my camera collection is limited to one, but this makes a lot of sense. If you use a flash instead of a flashlight or what have you, each letter will be equally illuminated and super clear.

Check out the full tutorial followed by an interesting discussion here. One of the commenters posted some pictures of the stencil/makeshift soft box he made for he shoe mount flash. Very clever.

Now to prove my prowess, here's some unedited shots from some fun a friend and I had in the woods with some head lamps.

[via Make]