Christmas gifts photographers want

It’s that time of the year when you are desperately trying to find an interesting gift for your family and friends. If you know someone who is a photographer, then there is a huge number of gadgets that you could buy. Here are the Christmas gifts photographers would love to see nestling under the Christmas tree this 25 December. We’ve got some great ideas for all budgets that could help you complete your holiday shopping.

Ultimate Lens Hood – From £20

We reviewed the Ultimate Lens Hood ((https://www.ultimatelenshood.com/) a few weeks ago and found it to be a great little gadget to enable you to shoot through glass. It’s available in a variety of sizes to suit different camera lenses. Not only can you get great results through glass, but it also doubles as a handy rain cover!

ExposDisc v2.0 – £34

Digital Cameras a really great at capturing images but sometimes the colours you see in real life aren’t the same as you see in your pictures. One reason for this could be the white balance setting that’s being used. Most cameras have a number of default settings available such as daylight, cloudy or tungsten. However, these pre-sets don’t always give the best results. The ExpoDisc (https://www.expodisc.com/collections/all-products/products/expodisc-2-0) is a super easy way to get colours spot on.

L Bracket – £49.99

If you are using a tripod it can be a real pain switching your camera between landscape and portrait orientation. This is where an L bracket can be really handy. Made for Arca Swiss tripod heads, the design means there are two plates that can be connected to the tripod head – one in landscape orientation and the other portrait. Using an L Bracket has really helped me to get more quality shots.

Photography Gloves – £67

Some of the best times to shoot landscapes is at the start and end of the day. The problem is that it can often be chilly while waiting for the sun to rise or set. Most warm gloves are too bulky to operate the controls with and so photographers are faced with blue fingers to get the perfect shot! These photography gloves (https://photographygloves.com/collections/photography-glove/products/vallerret-photography-glove-markhof-pro-2-0)  from Vallerret are made from goat leather and are lined with Merino wool are sure to keep you warm in the deep mid-winter.

Photography Workshop Voucher – from £75

All the gadgets in the world aren’t going to make you a better photographer. Ranked Edinburgh’s number one in the classes and workshop section of TripAdvisor, Edinburgh Photography Workshop (https://edinburghphotographyworkshop.com/) is a great place to learn how to use your camera. Workshops are available for everyone from beginners to advanced. Workshop vouchers can be bought for any value and workshops range from £75

Travel Tripod – from £129

Flights are becoming cheaper and cheaper but the prices for carry-on luggage are getting more expensive. When traveling it’s really good to have a tripod but you don’t want anything that is too bulky or heavy. There are a number of really good travel tripods but the one I’ve seen recently which is sturdy enough to take heavy cameras but compact and relatively light is the MeFOTO Roadtrip (https://www.mefoto.com/products/roadtrip-s-travel-tripod-carbon-fiber-0). It weighs in just under 1.5kg for the Carbon Fibre version and doubles as a monopod as well, this is a great addition to the travel photographers kit.

Platypod – from £59

The more observant will have noticed that so far, we have gone from least expensive to most, The Platypod (https://platypod.com/)  is going to sit slightly out of order as it is a super companion for a travel tripod. Lots of indoor locations ban tripods from being used. Most of the time they are the very locations where you need a tripod. The Platypod isn’t quite a tripod but it does the same job and gets around the ‘you’re not allowed to use that in here’ security guards. It’s a plate that you can rest on a chair or table and allows the ball head from your tripod to be attached. This is a great way to get great quality shots in the locations you weren’t supposed to!

Pluto Trigger – £189

As you start to take your photography more seriously you want to make sure that your images don’t have any shake as a result of pressing the shutter button. This is where a shutter release is going to help, and the Rolls-Royce of releases is the Pluto Trigger (https://plutotrigger.com/). As well as being a simple shutter switch it can also take time-lapse and star trail images. It also can be triggered through either a light switching on, a sound or by movement. This means you can get fantastic lightning shots without trying to press the shutter at the point it strikes!

Lee Filter System – £269

A really good filter system is going to take landscape images to the next level. One of the best manufacturers around is Lee Filters (http://www.leefilters.com/index.php/camera/system). Their 100mm system is the first item I add to my bag when I’m heading out to take seascapes. A beginner’s kit contains almost everything you need to start on the road of using filters. It includes a filter holder, graduated filter and ND filter. All you’ll need to add is a filter ring which is specific to the size of lens that you have. If you need to know more about filters, take a look at this blog which shows what each type of filter can do.

Wacom Tablet – £369

Most editing in Photoshop can be done with a mouse or trackpad but when you want to start doing very detailed cut-outs it’s hard to get the accuracy you need. The Wacom Intuos Pro tablet (https://www.wacom.com/en/products/pen-tablets/wacom-intuos-pro) allows you to use the supplied pen to edit your photos as if you were drawing on a piece of paper. Wacom is the brand that most professional re-touchers will turn to because of their accuracy and capability to integrate with the likes of Adobe Photoshop.

Whatever Christmas gift you get this year, we really hope you enjoy using it!