Rix Mascarenhas
Christmas is coming fast on us, and this years we surely have reasons to celebrate, it’s been tough on everyone, and for some of us it is tougher, and to help you make the life of you fellow photographer a little bit easier this year I put together a list of what I think are the best gifts for photographers
A gift can be everything you think that person will enjoy, but personally I think a gift can be also useful, so in this list here you will see some items that will totally make sense for a photographer, maybe not to you if you are now a photographer. So let’s start.
Best gifts for photographers
Books make great gifts for photographers in 2020
One of the best gifts for photographers you can give is a good book, there’s no doubt that a book can change one’s life. And gifting a photographer with a good is about photography is like giving a full pitcher of water to someone who is thirsty.
Three are several good books around, and it is good to know about what style of photography the person you are gifting is into, but, undeniably these two books here are a good gift for photographers of any style.
100 Photographs That Changed the World is a huge celebration of the power of photography and offers a stunning portfolio of one hundred of the most important and vivid still images of all time, including Robert Capa’s images from the beaches of Normandy, Joe Rosenthal’s famed study of the flag raising at Iwo Jima, and works by Harry Benson, Eddie Adams, Larry Burrows, Alfred Eisenstadt, and other notable photographers. 50,000 first printing.
Another awesome book that I think your fellow photographer will appreciate is Light Science & Magic, this is a more technical book, but I have to say, if you are serious about knowing how light behaves and how to apply it to your photography this book is my top recommendation.
Of course I have lots of other recommendations of photography related books, but I think without knowing what kind of photography you are looking for is pointless to fill this page with something you probably don’t want, so if you need some help just in choosing a book or need a tailored recommendation just put in the comments below and I will be glad to help.
Software
Sometimes books can be as expensive as a good photo editing software, and maybe you can use this as an advantage and give a software license that ;surely will be very useful to your friend photographer.
My top two recommendations that will make any photographer very happy are not the convention ones, because most photographers have a particular way to edit and organize their work, I will put here things that can be added to any workflow but also can be used as standalones programs.
For those who follow this blog for a certain time, you know how I like and preach about most of Skylum photo editing softwares, so I am going to be brief.
The first recommendation that can work on its own or be used as a plugin inside Lightroom or Photoshop is LUMINAR 4*. This is a super powerful tool that can replace the Adobe alternatives for the most part and produce professional results without the need of putting lots of time into editing.
Another great piece of software that is super useful for any kind of photography is an app called Photo Pills.
This is a Swiss pocket knife for location scouts, to predict certain conditions of weather and light, and also help to calculate difficult math, which some photographers have to deal with from time to time.
Accessories
Some accessories can make good gifts also, but take it to see if you are buying something that your photographer friend will use. We are very picky with the kind of accessories we use on our day-to-day.
One great gift is a camera strap, but check the style your photographer uses before buying any.
One brand that I always recommend no matter if you are a beginner or a pro is Peak Design, they have a huge catalog of accessories for photographer, from brags to tripods, and the straps are in between, given the quality x price of some of these straps I would say that it is a great gift without spending as much.
Sometimes photographers need a little push to get out of their comfort zone and start doing things a little bit different and a cool way to do this is presenting them with tools that will make it possible to then to tackle different situations, like some lens filters.
With filters we can accomplish a lot of different things and we can put ourselves in different situations and explore our creativity, so things would be a gift with double meaning. The brand that I will post here is not the only one, neither the more expensive, so if you do some research on you friend photographer and discover which lens he or she like to use the most you can gift him or her with a TIffen filter, this is an awesome brand and you friend will be very happy.
Equipment
Oh boy! oh boy. If you have money to give your fellow photographer equipment as a gift I bet you that you will make someone very happy.
But again this is a sensible subject because equipment is something very personal and some equipment have some particular necessities and compatibility needs that you have to check out before you start burning that money and ask what they would like to receive as a gift.
Memory cards and external hard drives make a good gift and one brand that I always used and recommend is Sandisk, I never had a problem with their products it doesn’t matter if is a memory card an external hard drive.
So if you know what type of memory card you need to buy just give a try to Sandisk products because they are very reliable and are not crazy expensive.
If you are looking for an external hard drive I can’t recommend enough this one here. It is not the cheapest candy in the jar, but it is heaps faster and portable than most of the competition.
Another great gift, and with this you’re gonna spend a little more, is a display tablet or a drawing tablet. Recently I wrote an article reviewing the XP-PEN Innovator 16, and I’m in love with this product, so much so that I benched all my Wacom products, but you can read the review at the link above if you like.
My suggestion for a gift is the Artist 13.3Pro, which is a smaller display tablet and with all resources that a photographer, designer or digital artist will need to work, this is my suggestion because they are with a great sale for the holidays so run before you lose.
Other suggestions for more expensive, but very effective equipment, is gifting a Godox AD300PRO or AD200PRO which are great flash units and will make any photographer very happy. If your friend photographer likes small flash units I would keep my ears open, because Godox will bring another great small unit to the market soon. 😉
Other equipment like laptops, tablets and monitors can also be a great gift but I advise you that some of these items are well designed to photographers and others are not, so make you research before spending your money.
For laptops keep your eyes on:
All these brands I have used I can say that they work for photography, some better than others, and here prices can differ a lot, so if you are looking for the best of both worlds, price x performance I would keep an eye on MSI and Acer.
And that is it. No matter if you are looking to give someone or to give yourself a gift, these suggestions will make a great present for any situation, not just Christmas, but since we are approaching the end of 2020 why not make this end of year worth remembering with a gift that says – “Hey I care about you.” Is not just a matter of finding the best gifts for photographers in 2020 but a way to show anyone that they are important in our lives.
Put in the comments below, what are your suggestions of the Best gifts for photographers. And if we don’t talk before the end of the year, Happy holidays everyone!
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