Amateur To Pro: Great Gift Gadgets For Photography Lovers

Are you all set to begin your holiday shopping, but stuck on what to get the photographer in your life? Don't panic!  This gift guide is for you!

I’ve compiled suggestions for all levels of photographers to help solve your shopping challenges. Hint: Feel free to leave this post (or last year’s guide) strategically open on your computer if you’re the photographer and you think your family needs a nudge.

The most flexible tripod ever and other great gifts for photographers 

For Anyone:

• Backup storage. I said this last year, and I’m going to say it every year: please, please, please back up all of your photos. Now. Immediately. Bookmark this post, back your photos up, and then come back. My personal view is if the photograph doesn’t exist in 3 accessible places (main computer, external hard drive and the cloud or somewhere else that’s not in your home), it isn’t backed up. In fact, does it even exist? Give the photographer in your life the gift of an external hard drive. Photo file sizes are getting larger and storage is getting cheaper, so I would try to buy at least one terabyte (1TB) of space. At the time of writing, Amazon.ca had 855 options for 1TB external drives.
• Coffee table books. I’d be thrilled to find Vivian Maier: A Photographer Found or National Geographic's Stunning Photographs wrapped up with my name on them. (I'm leaving this post open for my family.)

For the Mobile Enthusiast:

• The iPhone 5, 5s and 5c wrist strap from Photojojo. Hopefully they will start making these for additional smartphone models! 
• Is your photographer Instagram-crazy? Then these necklaces might be just the thing.

• Tired of taking your gloves off in the cold to take a picture with your phone? Then include these Ten-Digit-Touchscreen Gloves on your wish list. 
• Think "in the box" with this foldable studio and let them take their iPhone photography to the next level.

For the Point-and Shoot Photographer:

• How about a small printer to quickly print 4x6 photos? Try the Epson Picturemate Show or the Canon Selphy.
• Bring back the fun of instant prints with the Fuji Instax Mini 8.

For the DSLR Photographer:

• Consider a gift certificate for a photography course. With over 30 locations in Canada, check out Henry’s School of Imaging. Not close to their centres? Then buy a one year membership for your photographer to Kelby One Training. 
• A camera bag. Click here for a list of my 5 favourite bags, in all sizes and configurations.
• A wifi SD card (assuming that fits in their camera) to wirelessly send photos from their camera to their smartphone or tablet. These are great if you're travelling or away from your primary computer and want to share photos.

Happy shopping, everyone! You're sure to enjoy the smiles when your special photographer opens his or her gift!

^{Photos by Photojojo}