Gift Guide for Photographers

Do you have a photographer in your life?  I’m a beginner – or so I keep saying – but I’ve been taking photos for a while now.  Part of being a blogger is learning how to take decent photos!

There are a few bonuses to knowing some photographers.  Sometimes they’re looking for models to pad their portfolios and will take photos of you and/or your family for a discounted rate.  You could ask them to critique your own photos if you’re still learning.  And, sometimes they may have better equipment than you that you could perhaps borrow if you’re ready to learn something new.

The best part of having people in your life with specific hobbies is you can usually find them a gift fairly easily!

*This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through my link I will earn a small commission at no cost to you. These commissions support me and my blog.*

Check out these gift ideas for the Photographers in your life:

Books or Courses

I know it is possible to learn about literally everything on the internet these days, but sometimes having a book to refer to in-the-moment is so much better than asking Google how to do things. 

Of course you’ll need to know the level of your photographer.  You wouldn’t want to buy Photography for Dummies for someone who considers themselves a more expert photographer!

There are tons of books on photography out there.  It’s helpful to know what area of photography your gift receiver is interested in, or how serious they are planning to get about their hobby.  Amazon has a ton of books to browse through for some inspiration.

I was gifted a course from a local photographer, and I learned a lot from it.  We spent a full day learning about our cameras, lighting, setting up the shot, and how to capture an interesting photo.  It was a fabulous gift for me!

I would suggest looking online for local photographers who may run courses. Check your local camera stores or arts hubs for other options for workshops.

Photo Accessories

A good photographer needs some good accessories.  However, this is another area where you need to know what sorts of photos they will be taking.

Portrait photographers would appreciate gifts like reflectors, backdrops (or cheat and get tablecloths or blankets with neat patterns) and supports to hold them up, diffusers for the flash, tripods and maybe fun props for people and families to pose with.

Nature and landscape photographers have slightly different needs.  Polarizing filters for their lenses, a bubble level for accurate horizons, a headlamp for working when the sun is down, tripods or maybe a remote to set up the camera to capture a skittish or elusive animal.

Even the smartphone photographer could use a few accessories to up their picture taking game.  Selfie sticks, tripods and remotes made specifically for phones, lens cleaning cloths (because we all know how dirty our cell phones get), and even auxiliary lenses can up the level of photos taken from a smartphone.  (I didn’t even know there were such things as auxiliary lenses for smartphones!)

Photo Storage

Taking lots of photos goes hand in hand with needing lots of storage.  I try to download all my photos to my computer and remove them from the SD cards my camera takes.  And then I try to back all of that up to another location as well. (I don’t always do this step in a timely fashion – but I really should!)

If you know what memory card your photographer’s camera takes, get them some of those.  You can never have too many cards to fill with pictures!  My camera takes SD cards, and my phone takes micro SD. We keep a few Lexar cards in the camera bag. The bigger the amount of memory here, the better!

Another great idea is a card reader.  My newest computer does not have a card reader in it, so I have to use an external one to read my cards.  With card readers faster is better.  I would also suggest a multi card reader.  This allows flexibility for reading various types of cards.

Backing up photos on an external drive is something photographers (and everyone else) should be doing.  And not just photos, but for this post that’s my focus.  We have some My Passports that we use to keep things backed up.  It’s such peace of mind knowing that if our computers die, we have those important files and photos saved elsewhere!

A few other ideas:

• editing software, or upgrades for their current software
• props (flowers, stationary, pretty stuff) if they’re always posting flatlay photos on Instagram
• batteries and chargers for their specific cameras
• a light box if they do product shots
• a camera backpack if they do photography on the go
• photo paper if they print at home
• your time – maybe they need a model, someone to help with setup or teardown of portrait sessions, or just someone to spend time with while shooting local events or beautiful landscapes
  
  

Are you a photographer?  What would you add to this list?  There are so many thoughtful things at so many price points, it shouldn’t be hard to find the perfect gift for the photographer in your life!

~Jess