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6 Online Photography Gear Rental Reviews

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Photography gear can be expensive – sometimes you just need a special lens, camera body or lighting equipment temporarily. Be it for an assignment, project or just to try before you buy.
Many online photographic rental companies are popping up now – especially with the economy in some turmoil (in the US specifically) cause investing in new equipment isn’t always a priority as landing the right gigs to support more investments. And for those of us who prefer photography as a hobby – rental is often a great solution.

Most rental retailers deal primarily with Nikon and Canon equipment but some places rent Olympus, Sony, AlienBees and much more!
Here’s a list and details on reputable lens and equipment rental companies that do online/shipping for rental equipment across the US.
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Official Rosco Strobist Kit

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This is even better than getting the free gels from Rosco or the cheap sample packs from B&H / Amvona. A Strobist gel kit.

This awesome Rosco Strobist 55-Piece Filter Kit is great for both color correcting your flash head to match your surroundings: fluorescent, tungsten and daylight. All of under $10! The kit includes the following:



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How does a Bounce Umbrella Work?

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A bounce umbrella works very simply by taking the light from a light source and expanding it’s spread.

A bounce umbrella is typically lined on the interior with a silver, gold or white reflective surface and on the outside with black to reduce light from escaping.

To show you exactly I’ve put together some diagrams that show where the light goes. For this example we’ll assume that an umbrella is a cut of a perfect sphere. The focal point, through which all the reflected light passes, is 1/2 * radius of the circle, or half way between the sphere’s center point and the edge of the umbrella.

Bounce Umbrella Light Diagram 1 of 3

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How does a Shoot-Through Umbrella Work?

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A shoot-through umbrella works very simply by taking the light from a light source and expanding it’s spread.

A shoot-through umbrella is typically white and a fairly thin or translucent white at that. The light is intended to travel through the umbrella to reach it’s subject.

To show you exactly I’ve put together some diagrams that show where the light goes. For this example we’ll assume that an umbrella is a cut of a perfect sphere. The focal point, through which all the reflected light passes, is 1/2 * radius of the circle, or half way between the sphere’s center point and the edge of the umbrella.

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Bouncing a Flash off the Ceiling – Lighting Test

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Once you get a flash, speedlight or speedlite unit the first thing you are told is to get it off your camera. Sometimes a situation just doesn’t accommodate this – like shooting an event light a trade show, wedding or social event where it’s more important to catch the shot then get perfect lighting.

So when you can’t get your flash unit off your camera you have to do the next best thing: bounce. If you’re lucky the ceilings are low enough to accommodate bouncing, I find 8 – 12′ ceilings are best for this. Now that you know you are going to bounce your light off the ceiling do you know at what angle? The flash I demoed, the Nikon SB600, there’s 5 settings: 0° (straight at the subject, ie. not bounce), 45°, 60°, 70° and 90° (straight up). I grabbed my mannequin head (we’ll call her Sharla for obvious reasons) and did some test shots.

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