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Most Popular Rentals of the Last 19 Years
This month marks Lensrentals.com’s 19th anniversary, and we wanted to celebrate with a few blog posts. What started as a few Leica cameras and lenses rented out of Roger’s garage (which you can learn more about in this podcast episode) has evolved into the largest rental house in the United States,…
Starship Flight 9: Photographing History, Triumph, and Turbulence
When have you felt most locked-in behind a camera? Was it on the sidelines, framing a game’s do-or-die play? Or perhaps glimpsing a rare animal after days of patiently waiting in harsh conditions? For me, it’s the instant all 33 Raptor engines ignite beneath SpaceX’s Starship launch vehicle, the…
Hybrid Shooting Lessons From a Photography Background
Whether you’re a photographer, videographer, or “content creator” (a term I personally cringe at), the current expectation is that you can shoot both stills and video. When I began my photography career in 2008, deliverables were much simpler. Instagram hadn’t launched yet, and brands were just…
A Guide to Light Painting Photography
Light painting is a great way to approach photography differently, but it can be a complicated process and requires some trial and error to get it right. When done right, you can really maximize the lighting you’re using or, better yet, add a level of surreal lighting to your images. So, let’s take…
Breaking Down One-Shots in Cinematography
The Oner – A cinematographer’s boss fight that really tests one’s ability to choreograph a scene from front to back and expertly flex their skills with a camera. While the Oner (or commonly called a one-shot) was certainly always a novelty, with recent technological advances and current trends in…
Caring for Photography Gear in Changing Climates
The weather is officially changing for the summer, and there are some important rules to remember when managing your gear during changing climates. Between going from a nicely heated cabin to the wintry outdoors or from a humid area into a dry, air-conditioned house, there are a few critical steps…
Can You Differentiate AI Art From Real Photos?
It has been a year or so since we talked about AI, but with ChatGPT’s latest release and Google’s imagen 3, it was time to reapproach the conversation. I’ll pretend I am okay with AI, mainly as a workflow tool to help us create our work faster, but the art generation tools will forever concern me…
The Biggest Releases in Photo and Video for Spring 2025
Many big announcements in the photography and videography scene happen in the spring. With WPPI for the photo world and NAB for the video world, most brands schedule their big releases around these trade shows. We were back in attendance at both NAB and WPPI this year and were grateful to meet so…
Is Medium Format Worth it?
With the recent release of the Fujifilm GFX 100RF, there has certainly been a lot of talk about whether a medium-format camera is for you. While medium format does offer superior image quality, it comes with quite a few caveats. As a medium format user for the last 10 years or so, depending on the…
The Best Lighting Kits You Can Rent for All Budgets
If you’ve followed this blog for any amount of time, you will probably know by now that I love lighting. Over the last couple of years, I’ve shared dozens of lighting diagrams and spent a lot of time deducing how lighting works. While I discuss many of the nuances and technicalities of lighting, I…
Unconventional Lenses to Try on Your Next Photoshoot
It’s common in photography to find a lens you like and stick with using that lens exclusively for several months at a time. I’ve done this myself, with the Canon EF 35mm f/1.4, then the Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II, and now the GF 120mm f/4 Macro. But if you’re feeling stuck in your creativity, there…
Photoshoot Breakdown – Working with Gels in Studio
Shooting with gelled or RGB lights can be a great way to expand your creativity and create new works of art. However, the process can be a bit more complicated than one might expect. Depending on the gels you’re using, you’ll lose a certain amount of light, making the process of light balance all…