Great Gifts For The Photographer In Your Life

If your family is anything like mine, there is one person who is the designated family photographer.

If your family continues to be like mine, then that person is the only one who knows or cares about photography, leaving the remaining family members lost when it comes to picking out a photography-related gift.

Have a hard-to-buy-for paparazzo in your life? Fear not — I am here to help with gift suggestions for all types of photographers. (Feel free to leave this post strategically open on your computer if you’re the photographer whose family needs guidance.)

For everyone:

• Backup storage. Please, please, please back up all of your photos. 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), then it isn’t backed up. 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. Best Buy has a variety of options.

For the mobile enthusiast:

• Lenses that clip to your smartphone, instantly giving you a macro, fisheye or wide-angle lens. You could choose the olloclip for iPhone, or check out Photojojo’s offerings that also include Android. Turn their smartphones into a professional camera!

• A gift certificate to the App store so they can purchase any of these great photography apps.

• The GorillaPod Grip Tight Stand is an awesome addition for any mobile photographer.  Think of it as the most flexible tripod they’ll ever own:

For the point-and-shoot photographer:

• An extra battery or memory cards. Yes, I’m serious. Most people never purchase these when they buy their camera and these items can be lifesavers, particularly if you’re on vacation. Most camera models have the brand and model written directly on the camera, and from there you can run a Google search to quickly determine what type of card or battery. Need more help? The good people at Henry’s or your local camera store are great resources.

• The Original Gorillapod. (No, I’m not being paid to push GorillaPods. They’re just brilliant products — lightweight tripods that anyone can use.)

For the DSLR* photographer:

*A digital single lens reflex camera. These are the cameras where the lenses come off and are interchanged.

• A unique camera strap. Etsy has a large selection of handmade camera straps, which are a welcome change from the basic, black, logo emboldened strap that comes with each camera. (I like my camera strap to be long enough to wear it across my body, so if your photographer is the same, you might consider looking for one that says “cross-body” or “extra long”.)

• A camera lens mug. Just make sure you know if they shoot with a Canon or a Nikon!

Happy Shopping!

P.S. Santa, just in case you are real and are listening, this would make a REALLY great gift: