Are you a generous gift-giver and want to give your photographer loved one a really, really useful gift? Here are ten carefully-chosen photographic gifts that will help any photographer to explore and improve his or her craft.
Lastolite 5×6′ Collapsible Disc Reversible Dyed Background, Virginia
Adorama price: $107.92
Create a pop-up studio with this 5×6-foot collapsible disc reversible patterned dyed background. You can lean it against a wall and shoot with existing light, or light it with flash or continuous light sources to turn any space into an instant studio. This is great for enthusiasts who want to take their portrait photography to the next level.
Glow HexaPop 24-Inch Softbox For Portable Flash
Adorama price: $149.95
Got an off-camera flash? Turn its harsh, directional light into flattering soft light using this easy-to-assemble, six-sided 24-inch softbox. An internal parabolic reflector throws bright, even, soft light. Using a remote trigger and manual output control. Add a low-cost Flashpoint Pro Air Cushioned Light Stand (Adorama price: $29.95) and you have an instant portrait studio.
WD 3.5″ 6.0TB My Book Desktop Hard Disk Drive, USB 3.0
Adorama price:$199.99
This is an especially appropriated and appreciated gift for photographers who are shooting high-resolution RAW images and HD and 4K video and produce files that are hungry for drive space and fast transfer rates. With 6TB of storage and USB 3.0 with an up to 5GB per second data transfer rate, this fits Western Digital unit fits both requirements.
Flashpoint Budget Studio Monolight Flash, 160 Watt Seconds – Portrait Kit
Adorama price:$189.96
Encourage your favorite photographer to get started doing portrait photography with this low-cost two-light setup. This kit includes 160 watt-second flash heads with modeling lights, plus umbrellas and stands for each. Plug one of the flashes into your camera’s Flash Sync socket via a sync cord and it will automatically trigger the other one to go off. Light output can be varied down to 1/8 power.
Wacom PTH451 Intuos Pro Pen and Touch Tablet 6.2×3.9″
Adorama price: $249.99
Dump the mouse! Retouch and edit your images more efficiently and accurately with a tablet. This small tablet can be operated via a pen or through multi-touch gestures, providing precise control. The pen supports 2048 levels of pressure, allowing you to emulate the effects of traditional brushes and pens. Good news for southpaws: This is designed for righties and lefties.
F&V Lighting R300 LED Ring Light with L-Bracket
Adorama Price: $199
Bump up your macro and portrait photography with this strong LED ring light. Designed to fit around any lens and camera, this light has 300 daylight-balanced LEDs that produce 1950 Lux at 3 feet—plenty of illumination for macro photography, and great for shadowless fashion and portrait photography. A Tungsten filter, included, changes the color balance to 3200K, and a Frost Diffusion and Milk White Filters soften the harshness of the light for flattering portraits.
DxO Labs FilmPack 5 Elite
Adorama price: $129.00
Emulate over 80 different types of film emulsion looks with DxO’s FilmPack5 Elite, a Photoshop plug-in that works with DxO OpticsPro, Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop ELements, Lightroom, and Aperture. DxO has carefully studied the properties of legendary analog films and faithfully revived them in digital form using a proprietary calibration process. You can fine-tune the look using filters, vignetting, blur and other effects.
Epson Perfection V600
Adorama price: $209.99
What? You haven’t digitized those shoeboxes of slides, prints and negatives yet? It’s time—those negatives aren’t getting any clearer, and those slides and prints are fading. It’s time to archive them in digital format, and the Epson Perfection, with its 6400×9600 dpi optical resolution and ability to photograph slides and film, is designed for photographers with lots of images to scan. Digital Ice software onboard removes tears and creases from damaged photos, and removes dust and scratches from film. Photoshop Elements is included.
Fujifilm Instax Mini 90
Adorama price: $179.00
With its retro/classic camera look and ability to produce credit card-sized instant photos, the Fujfilm Instax Mini 90 will make you friends quickly since you can share the one-of-a-kind analog instant prints immediately. The camera focuses from about a foot to infinity automatically, has autoexposure and an adjustable flash. Don’t forget to buy a pack or two of film.
Cactus RF60 with Wireless Transceiver V6
$195
Get started in wireless flash photography using the manually controlled Cactus RF60, which comes with a built-in wireless commander and receiver—the only one of its kind—and can be the start of a multiple-flash system. You can control power output on camera or remotely, and control up to four groups of flashes for more sophisticated setups. An optical slave, the RF60 can do both first and rear-curtain flash, and can also trigger at any time during the exposure. It is powerful, with a Guide Number of 56, and this package includes a Cactus Trasnceiver, so you can immediately add additional flashes.
