Category: Photographic Techniques
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What Amateur Filmmakers Can Learn From Professional Sets
Before I chose a life of safety and stability as a Video Technician at LensRentals, I was a Production, Locations, and Camera Assistant in Wilmington, North Carolina. For the most part, people know Wilmington and the surrounding area as the setting for countless Nicholas Sparks adaptations, but…
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A Comprehensive Guide to Aerial Photography
In the last few years, the price of renting a helicopter has decreased dramatically. Coupled with the advent of DSLRs that perform very well in low light, this has created a wonderful opportunity for photographers to charter helicopters in numbers never seen before. Over the past two years, I’ve…
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Street Photography and the Sony A7s
Recently I took a trip to NYC and I wanted practice street photography on the same streets as Gary Winogrand and Robert Frank. I chose the Sony A7s to take with me because I’m spoiled on a full frame sensor and the option to change lenses. The Sony A7s is easily in my top 3 favorite cameras, and…
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The Venus 60mm Macro – A Hidden Gem for Macro Photography
Including macro shots in a portfolio or wedding album is a great way to add variation and make the work stand out. This is the time of year when we get a lot of questions not only about macro lenses but about which lenses are best for shooting weddings. These questions are often asked in the same…
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Infrared Photography: Imaging in a Different Light
### Creative Experimentation As a photographer with an art background and an employee of a company with endless gear options, I am always looking for something to give me a fresh perspective on image making. On our recent trip to the Wedding and Portrait Photographers International Conference+Expo…
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Sharpening Maps and Masks
Obviously I’m a gearhead, so I like to know the traits of the lenses I shoot with. I want to know what aperture gives maximal corner sharpness, for example, whether the plane of focus is curved or flat, where the distortion changes in a zoom, which end of the zoom range or focusing distance is the…
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Guest Blogger Aaron Nace | How to Capture the Real & Surreal with a Superlative Lens
_Today’s Guest Blogger Aaron Nace is going to show you tips on creating and compositing fantastical images with a lens he considers to be one of the best._ _Aaron is a Chicago-based photographer and retoucher who combines elements of reality and fantasy to create his images. Aaron has taught…
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Guest Bloggers Zach & Jody | Tuesday Tips & Tricks – Long Lens Perspectives
_Today we have guest bloggers Zach and Jody Gray hosting their free, weekly Tuesday Tips & Tricks on our blog here at Lensrentals! Zach & Jody are Nashville-based wedding photographers who have taken the industry by storm since their business began back in 2007. They have a huge heart for teaching…
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Sharing a Good Read
One part of my job that gets to be a job sometimes is reading. The writing I do requires a lot of research reading. Making purchasing and troubleshooting decisions for Lensrentals requires a lot of research reading. So when I received a copy of Steve Simon’s book _The Passionate Photographer: Ten…
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Concert Shooting Basics
_This time of year, particularly, people have plays, pageants, and all kinds of indoor activities to photograph. Since its one of the most difficult types of photography, we get a lot of questions about it. Since I know absolutely nothing about concert and theatre photography, I’ve asked Brad…
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How to Shoot With Wide Aperture Lenses
I’ll start by saying I’m a wide-aperture prime nut. I love them. No zoom, not even the best zoom, can compare. “Wait”, you say, “what about my $2,000 top grade f/2.8 Wonderzoom? People say it’s the best lens made.” I’ll grant you it might be as sharp as a prime, at least at its sweet spot it might.…
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A Broad Guide to Ultra Wide
A while back I wrote a blog on Getting Sharp Telephoto Images when I realized a lot of our renters were using big telephoto lenses for the first time and didn’t know the tricks it took to get good telephoto images. We also see people struggle at the opposite end of the focal length range: they know…