Real Simple Magazine has a list of 101 New Uses for Everyday Things, starting with ten new uses for coffee filters. Who knew coffee filters were a great way to strain wine from a bottle with a broken cork or make yogurt dip. But of course, a more practical use of coffee filters, besides making coffee, is to diffuse your camera’s flash on close-ups.

I recently filmed a video at a club with a friend for my personal blog, and noticed that he too had a coffee filter strapped over the light. I thought that was strange, but he said it was supposed to soften the light on people so they wouldn’t look so harsh under the bright lights in the night club setting. It’s a low tech solution any photographer can appreciate, especially if they’re on the road. But coffee filters can also come in handy when you need to white balance your camera, or rid your mobile phone of unwanted residue and oil from your hands.