Christmas gift ideas for photographers 2022 edition

We’re already seeing the adverts for Black Friday pop up. Christmas isn’t too far away, and the following weekend will be a great time to bag a bargain. Every year, I like to have a look around and recommend some things that people who are interested in photography might want to get on 25^th December. I’ve split the gift ideas into three price categories to make it easy for you.

Cheap Christmas Gifts

These first few recommendations are brilliant to use as stocking fillers for the snapper in your life. They are priced from £10 to around £30.

Photography Location Guides

If your photography pal likes to photograph landscapes, a great Christmas gift is a location guidebook. One of the best series of location books comes from fotoVue. With locations ranging from Iceland to Cornwall and guides on wildlife and night photography, there will be a book for you.

Where to buy: https://www.fotovue.com/shop/

Camera Cleaning Kit

I know it sounds like a boring present, but there’s nothing worse than taking a great photo, only to find that the photo is covered in dust spots. Maintenance of camera gear will help it last longer and ensure better photos. You can read about my cleaning regime here. If your photographer friend has lenses covered in fingerprints, they’ll really appreciate a good quality cleaning kit to get them on the right track.

Where to buy: https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=camera+cleaning+kit&crid=3IVDNCMLN9PPN&sprefix=Camera+clea%2Caps%2C77&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_1_11

Camera Trumps Game

This one is a bit of fun. Some photographers like to disagree on which camera is the best. Is Nikon better than Canon, or does Sony rule the roost? Wouldn’t it be great to have a definitive answer based entirely on the views of a company called Lens Lab? Clash of the Cameras is a Top Trumps style card game to entertain photographers for hours.

Where to buy: https://www.lenslab.co.uk/product.php?productid=10223

Mid-range Christmas Gift Ideas

The next clutch of Christmas gift recommendations is for those presents that are a bit more special. We’re in the £30 to £100 range here, so they are always worth shopping around for Black Friday deals.

Creative Cloud Subscription

Editing photographs has always been part of the process of taking pictures and always will be. One of the best editing tools is Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom. You can buy them together as part of the Creative Cloud Photographers Plan. It’s usually £120 for a 12-month subscription. However, if you are an Amazon Prime customer, keep an eye out for Black Friday deals. In last year’s November deals, I snapped up the package for just £79.99, and it will be a very welcome gift for a photographer.

Where to buy: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Adobe-Creative-Cloud-Photography-plan/dp/B00LSU8PYO/

A nifty fifty

One of the best lenses to buy after the standard kit lens is a 50mm prime lens. They have a wide aperture, so they are great for getting that blurry bokeh effect when taking portraits. They’ll get you used to moving to get good composition, as there’s no zoom. Best of all, the 1.8 versions are usually pretty cheap, just under £100. You’ll need to buy the right lens for your friend’s camera system, so ask for advice if you don’t know.

Where to buy: Any good camera shop or Amazon

Photography Workshop

No matter how good a photographer you are, you can always learn something. Buying a photographer a Christmas gift of a photography workshop will likely help them improve. Fortunately, you are reading this blog on Edinburgh’s #1-rated photography workshop (according to TripAdvisor). We offer all kinds of workshops and can even tailor sessions to whatever you’d like to learn. Gift vouchers are available for any value, with the most popular purchase being £75, which can be used to pay for our beginners, Switch to Manual Workshop, or the more advanced Night Photography Workshop.

Where to buy: https://edinburghphotographyworkshop.com/workshops/gift-vouchers/

Photography Gloves

This is one of my annual recommendations, and there’s a good reason. You can get some great photos during the winter months. The light is wonderful, and there’s nothing better than a winter sunrise or sunset. The only problem is that it gets pretty chilly at this time of the year, and it’s not that comfortable having cold hands. That’s where a pair of warm photography gloves designed for photographers will be a welcome gift. My favourites are made by Valleret and help keep me shooting for a few hours extra in the cold months.

Where to buy: https://photographygloves.com/collections/photography-glove

Expensive Christmas Gift Ideas

Has your photographer partner or friend been particularly good this year? If so, they will love any of the following three present ideas. These are our top-priced recommendations for those who are very special to you.

Filter Kit

One of the things that improved my landscape photography photos was when I invested in a filter holder system for my camera. I’ve tried a few different systems, and I am pretty sure that the Armor system from Kase is the one I’ll stick with for as long as I keep taking photos. It’s the revolutionary magnetic system and the use of Wolverine shockproof glass that makes this a long-lasting addition to the landscape photographer kit bag.

Where to buy: https://richdysonphotography.com/kase

Camera Bag

We spend hundreds of pounds on camera equipment. When I’m moving around, I want to protect all that expensive gear. My favourite camera bags come from a company called ThinkTank. I have the lightweight Shape Shifter range for getting around the city. It’s big enough to hold two camera bodies, three lenses and a laptop without being bulky. When I’m travelling further afield, the Airport range of roller bags helps me move large amounts of gear that still qualifies as carry-on luggage on a plane.

Where to buy: https://www.thinktankphoto.com/

Tripod Head

The final Christmas recommendation for 2022 is one of the presents I treated myself to this year. When I’m shooting on a tripod, I want it to be super stable and easily adjustable. I helped to fund the development through Kickstarter of the best tripod head I have ever used! The Platyball tripod heads are remarkable and quite literally switch the way tripod heads work upside down. You can read my review here.

Where to buy: https://www.platypod.com/pages/platyball

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About the author

As well as running Edinburgh Photography Workshop, Rich Dyson is a professional photographer. His photographs are regularly used in newspapers such as The Times, Guardian and Daily Telegraph. He also had two solo exhibitions and was featured in a members-sponsored exhibition in the Scottish Parliament. You can see and buy his photography at richdysonphotography.com.