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The Flickr camera toss group defines the technique this way: “Camera Toss is a particular form of kinetic photography, the camera must be airborne and unobstructed by the photographer or other means.” With camera tossing there are no rules other than to let the camera go free from your hands and up into the air.

While you can use your expensive camera, I would not recommend it unless you are in a very protected environment. You may want to confine your wilder experiments to a low cost camera. Inexpensive cameras now sell from about $10 to $30; you might be able to find one with the right specifications. Keep in mind that older, moderately priced cameras are often sold at fire sale prices, so good deals are for the asking. Perform an online search for “low cost digital cameras” to get started. Look for a camera with two seconds or more as its slowest shutter speed setting, and remember that snapshot cameras can often be forced to go to their lowest shutter speed by using the landscape mode or adjusting the exposure compensation setting.

Low light camera tossing often involves using a slow shutter speed and then throwing the camera up with a spinning motion to create kaleidoscopic patterns from the lights in the environment. Try to click the shutter just before you let the camera go to get the longest exposure.

Daylight camera tossing involves using the self-timer because the exposure will usually be much shorter. In this case, spinning the camera is not as important as the position of the camera when the shutter snaps. For example, for a daytime self portrait you want to throw the camera up so that it points down at you when the self-timer causes the exposure to be taken. This type of tossing can also be applied to shots taken at night with the flash turned on.