The holidays are quickly approaching and instead of showing you some of my work or shamelessly promoting my company, I wanted to share with you some ideas for great gifts for that special photographer in your life. Unfortunately photography equipment tends to be pretty expensive and we all know that the economic times are not that great right now. Therefore, I'm going to share some great gifts that won't break the bank as well as some that aren't on the cheap side, but your photographer will love them.
The digital era of photography is progressing at a rapid pace. The negative side of that is that by the time we go out and purchase a new camera it is being replaced by the newest model. However, the positive side of this progression is that the technology is becoming less expensive and more affordable. One such item that has seen a tremendous decrease in price is the memory cards that images are saved to in a camera. So my first gift idea is a memory card. The two most common memory card formats are called CF (compact flash) and SD (secure digital) card. A 4 GB CF card can be purchased for as little as $40. And don't forget, as you purchase cameras that have more megapixels you will want to purchase larger memory cards to hold all of those additional megapixels.
Doesn't everyone want to display or show off their images after they have taken them? Well, my next gift idea does exactly that. It's called a digital frame and it allows you to simply insert a memory card into it and it will run a slideshow of all the images that you want it to. Not only that, but they are very stylish and are being designed to look exactly like a regular picture frame that you would use for a print. Good digital frames start out in price around $75.
My next gift idea is for the nature photographer that likes to read and learn more about digital photography. It's a book called "The Ultimate Guide to Digital Nature Photography". This book is an excellent resource for learning and advancing photographic skills. Not to mention, it contains tons of stunning nature images from several of the book's authors. This book is sure to satisfy and inspire.
What photographer doesn't want to protect their investment, with the exception of a few people I know. Like I said earlier, photography equipment is expensive and needs to be well taken care of and protected so that it will last a long time and be ready to take pictures when you are. That brings up my next gift idea, which is a camera bag. Camera bags come in all different shapes, sizes and styles so I would recommend that you go into a camera store and test drive some of the different bags. Make sure it will hold all of your current gear as well as any gear you plan to acquire in the near future. Most importantly though is to make sure it is comfortable on either your shoulder, back or waist. The bags that I use or have used and can confidently recommend are bags by either Lowepro or Think Tank. These bags are built with quality, function and the security of your gear in mind.
Probably the single most important thing that a photographer can do to improve their images is to use a tripod. Unfortunately, a lot of hobbyist and casual photographers don't use tripods because they feel like it's a waste of time, too cumbersome or just a plain ole pain in the back side. Well, I can promise you from experience that a tripod will take your photography to the next level. Your pictures will be sharper and probably much better compositionally because the tripod not only stabilizes your camera to prevent out of focus images due to camera shake, but it also forces the photographer to slow down, look through the viewfinder and compose the scene in front of them more critically. When purchasing a tripod the three most important factors to me are weight, height and stability or strength. If a tripod is extremely heavy then the photographer will opt not to use it every time. A tripod should come up to the photographers eye when fully extended so that they don't have to bend over to look through the camera's viewfinder. And since the tripods main function is to steady the camera, strength or stability is extremely important and this depends greatly on how heavy the equipment being placed on the tripod is. The newer carbon fiber models are my choice due to the fact that they are light weight and strong at the same time. This does come at a price though as the carbon fiber tripods tend to be more expensive. If you can't afford this type of tripod now, then don't decide not to get a tripod. Any tripod is better than none.
The last item on my holiday list is probably the most expensive item that I am writing about today, but is probably the second best thing you can give to improve your photographer's pictures after the tripod. It's a photographic workshop. Again, speaking from experience, buy one of these for that special photographer in your life and I can guarantee you, that if you choose the right workshop, they will not only come back a better photographer, but will be very grateful and love you forever. Workshops vary from one company to another so a lot of research, and better yet, referrals are recommended. The workshop leader can make or break the trip regardless of how beautiful the destination is. The price for workshops can range anywhere from a few hundred dollars to well over $4,000. I would strongly recommend selecting the workshop based primarily on the leader and location and let the price be your last deciding factor. I company that I can confidently refer to you for workshops is called "Shoot The Light" Instructional Photographic Workshops by Charles Glatzer.
I hope you will find these ideas helpful as you decide what to get that special photographer in your life this holiday season. These are gifts that they are sure to love.
www.photographybytodd.com
todd@photographybytodd.com
