Christmas is just around the corner.  It’s time to start thinking about what kinds of gifts you plan on giving.  If you have a photographer in your life to consider, you might start thinking about a photography related gift.  So, what do you choose?  As a photographer myself, I can give you a few clues.  Here’s my photographer’s gift-giving guide.

Gift-Giving Guide Ideas I Recommend

Let’s make sure we start things off right.  I won’t be highlighting any specific products, although I will include affiliate links.  Companies come and go.  Products are invented, improved, and discontinued everyday.  I want to create a gift-giving guide which will be more timeless.  This means it will last for years (even if the affiliate links don’t), or at least until the photography and camera industry make more major changes.  I also tried to make this list as universal as possible.  I did my best to include gifts which would make sense for several different photography genres.  This list is in no particular order.  Now, let’s get into it.

1. Memory Cards

Every photographer who doesn’t still use film could use more memory cards.  Whether it be the CF cards popular in earlier digital camera models or the SD cards currently popular, it doesn’t matter.  Every digital photographer out there could use more memory cards.  The bigger the card space, the better.

As camera bodies evolve into more and more megapixels, photographers will need bigger cards to hold those larger image files.  Don’t go broke buying the absolute highest capacity memory cards you can find.  But do keep a little room for upgrades in mind.  Today’s standards (at time of writing) are 128GB or 256GB SD memory cards.  However, there are higher capacity cards like 1TB available on the market.

2. Lens Pen/Cleaning Kit

Every photographer needs a cleaning kit and a way to remove specs of dust from their camera lenses.  A lens pen or a cleaning kit is the perfect way to accomplish this.  These gifts are usually on the lower end of the price range so even the budget-conscious can afford this gift for a photographer.

You may even decide to purchase a rocket-shaped air blower to blow dust off the camera sensor.  Thanks to how delicate the camera sensor is, you don’t want to try and clean it directly.  That’s what the air blower is for.

Be careful about choosing a cleaning solution independently.  If you choose the wrong cleaner and the photographer uses it, then it could damage the camera.  Make sure you do your research.  Windex won’t work.

3. Photography-Themed Merch

If you run a quick internet search, you’ll find all kinds of different photography-themed merch out there.  From t-shirts to jewelry to lens-shaped cups.  You’ll find it all.  There’s a good chance that the photographer in your life will appreciate the attention you pay to their profession or hobby with a gift like photography merch.

Make sure that you acquire the photographer’s size for certain kinds of merch like t-shirts and rings/bracelets.  There’s nothing like buying the perfect photography merch present for the photographer in your life only to learn it won’t fit because it’s way too big or too small.  So, make sure that you acquire this information before you shop.

4. Backup Memory Drives

Any photographer who travels on location for photography will really benefit from a backup drive.  Memory card corruptions happen all the time.  It’s especially devastating for wedding photographers as they cannot re-shoot the event.  A backup drive can save the day.  With a backup drive, the photographer can ensure that the shoot isn’t lost with a corrupted memory card.

There was a day when you could buy an external backup hard drive with an SD card slot where you could directly download.  That heyday seems ended.  Now your options are regular USB external drives or even SATA/IDE internal drives.  Either option works as a backup drive for photography.  Just like with the memory card gift idea, make sure that you take upgrades into account.

5. Microfiber Wipes

Microfiber cloths and wipes will come in handy for all photographers.  They can use them to clean and maintain their gear in addition to removing fingerprints from prints.  So far, there’s nothing better on the market for removing skin oils from the surface of photo prints.  Thanks to their washable nature, photographers can use these microfiber cloths over and over again.  They become a gift which keeps on giving that way.

Also, thanks to being microfiber, they have special washing requirements.  If a photographer (or household member doing laundry) messes up and destroys them while doing laundry, you can easily replace them.  They should be cheap and easy to locate.

6. Handwarmers

Any photographer who goes on site will eventually deal with photography in the cold.  Photographers require their hands to manipulate the buttons and dials of their camera in order to take the pictures they love.  When their hands are cold, then cannot manipulate their buttons and dials properly, if at all.  Handwarmers will assist in restoring the critical heat which will allow their fingers to work again.

These handwarmers are good for more than just hands.  If necessary, a photographer may use them in shoes too in order to warm up cold toes.  With their limited shelf life and single use nature, you can ensure that the photographer in your life will never have too many handwarmers.

7. Spare Batteries

Every photographer needs spare batteries.  These spare batteries may include camera-specific batteries or more generic batteries like AA or AAA batteries.  Photographers use the more generic batteries in camera accessories like flash units.  So don’t assume that you need only buy a spare camera battery.  However, do consider that a generic package of AA batteries might not communicate the message you hope.  You may need to specify that you bought them the batteries for photography usage.

If you opt to buy a camera-specific battery, then you will need to know what camera body model the photographer uses.  Walking into a battery shop and buying whatever battery you see won’t work.  The photographer will be happy to tell you what camera body he or she uses.

8. Location-Based Photo Guide

For those photographers who do on location work, you might consider buying them a guide book for photography locations.  This will cover landscape photographers, wedding photographers, adventure photographers, and more.  These kinds of photographers love learning about new and unexplored (by them) photography opportunities.  I know I keep my own list.

You may find books (or ebooks) written by photographers specifically for photographers or you may locate something more generic.  Books on good hikes often discuss hiking to places with great views perfectly suitable for photography.  Those books also often include information on the trail to help the photographer reach the destination in comfort.  If you know a photographer is dreaming about a particular location, then consider this idea.  It will make planning the trip easier.

9. Photography Gloves

This particular gift is right up there with the handwarmers.  Any photographer shooting outside will eventually deal with photography in the cold.  However, they still need to manipulate those same buttons and dials.  The handwarmers will enable the finger dexterity.  But there’s another problem.  Even with the warmest fingers in the world, most mittens and gloves will inhibit you from manipulating those buttons and dials.  You gain a significant level of imprecision when wearing such gear.  Also, the clothing layer of the glove or mitten often slides over the top of the dials without engaging them.

This is the problem that photography gloves (or hunting gloves) fix.  A photographer still needs the precision and friction of their bare finger tips to manipulate those buttons and dials.  Still, they don’t want cold fingers going in or out.  So, photography gloves peel back part of the thumb and forefinger so the photographer can quickly manipulate the camera with ease.  Just make sure you’re buying the proper size glove.

10. Gift Cards

My final gift-giving guide suggestion for the photographer in your life is a gift card.  While this may seem like a very impersonal or even last-minute gift, that’s far from the case.  In fact, if you choose wisely, your gift card may be incredibly thoughtful.  Here’s how.

The photographer in your life is probably dreaming of some new kind of gear.  It could be a new camera body, a new lens, new bag, new carry strap, a new flash, backdrop, lighting setup, or more.  This possible list of gear lust is long.  You probably don’t know what all he or she wants.  Your best chance is them voicing it or discovering a list like an Amazon wishlist.  However, you can still make their dream come true with a gift card to the right place.

Perhaps you could buy a gift card for Adorama or B&H Photo.  Amazon will often work too.  Maybe there’s a local camera shop they haunt which sells gift cards.  With this gift card, the photographer can choose what he or she needs the most and be that much closer to making it happen.

Gift-Giving Guide Ideas I Caution Against

You’ll find many a holiday gift-giving guide for photographers.  These lists can be short or long, detailed or merely a listed item.  I’ve seen some common items on these lists which I want to caution you against buying.  I’ll even explain why.

Camera Gear

Don’t think about buying specific pieces of camera gear for the photographer in your life.  It’s a minefield.  While the photographer will happily sit down and tell you all the ins and outs of his or her gear, you probably won’t remember much of anything.  It won’t mean anything to you so it won’t stay in your head.

If you do decide to buy specific camera gear, you will probably need to know the photographer’s camera brand and lens mount.  You should also note that buying new camera bodies, lenses, flash units, etc. is expensive.  You don’t want to dump all that money into a very nice gift only to learn it won’t work for the photographer’s camera or worse, that it was a duplicate.

If you want to go the route of buying gear, I recommend you pursue the gift card option or you include the photographer in your shopping.  He or she will know exactly what to buy.  But then, it won’t be a surprise.

Camera Bags

The photography world is littered with camera bags.  There are way too many on the market.  While it may be tempting to buy a camera bag for the photographer in your life, I caution you against it.  As a photographer myself, I know what all I need to carry with me in my camera bag.  I also have a good idea of what to leave at home.  Many of the camera bags on the market may not accommodate my needs as a photographer.  I must do research on them to know for sure.  The same goes for the photographer in your life.

Unless you know for sure that the photographer in your life has been obsessing over a particular camera bag for a while, then your best bet is to (once again) use the gift card option or include the photographer in the shopping process.  You might consider buying a gift card from a specific camera bag-making company.  But you’re still better off with the more generic option.  Most camera bags made are also for sale on Amazon, especially the higher-end ones.

Subscriptions

I’ve seen plenty of gift-giving guides recommend buying a subscription to something like Adobe Creative Cloud for Lightroom and Photoshop access.  After all, most photographers use that platform for good reason.  Adobe changed over to a subscription-only model a few years ago.  There are other subscriptions out there screaming for you to buy them as a gift (such as photography magazines).  However, I caution you against this idea too.

You don’t know for sure that the photographer in your life wants a subscription to a photography magazine or some other photography-related subscription.  As for the other side, you’re giving up your credit or debit card info (along with other personally identifiable info) to the subscription company.  Most subscriptions are set to auto-renew unless you manually go in and discontinue.  Will you remember to do so in a year?  Also, these companies may sell your data.  Do you value your privacy on the internet?  These are questions you must answer for yourself.

As far as a Creative Cloud specific subscription (you know the photographer could probably use it), do you know what all the photographer needs?  Adobe charges based upon the software you want access to.  Will the photographer want Lightroom?  How about Photoshop?  In Design?  Premier?  Acrobat?  You get the idea.  Once again, there is the trade-off of getting it right or making it a surprise.  You must choose.

Photography Courses

This seems like it could be a great idea for a photographer.  You buy them a course to learn more about photography.  It really seems like a win-win.  However, I caution you to stop and think about it.  Things are not always as they seem.

The biggest danger you have with buying a photography course as a gift is a serious mismatch in the skill level of the course vs. the photographer.  Imagine buying a rudimentary intro to photography course for a serious professional.  How about buying a seriously advanced course for a beginner who isn’t ready for it and might not want to pursue that kind of photography in the end?  Do you see what I mean?  Also, take into consideration that online platforms appear and disappear everyday.  The course may just disappear before the photographer in your life is ready because the photographer offering the course died or went out of business.

It’s very difficult for a layman to judge what level a photographer is at.  However, the beginner is often easy to discern simply by the amount of time working at photography.  Still, if you want to give the gift of knowledge, then you’re probably better off giving a book.  There might be tips a seasoned pro can pick up.  Also, you need not worry about the course disappearing on a beginner.  There are plenty of books out there.  One series I recommend is the Digital Photography Book series by Scott Kelby.  It is short and to-the-point while still providing useful information to photographers of all skill levels.  I read the books myself.

Photography Trips

For some, this is well outside the budget and that’s fine.  But for others, you may consider giving the gift of a photo trip to the photographer in your life.  You may choose something local or something more exotic.  There are tons of options and plenty of tour guides willing to show you the way.  However, I also caution against this idea as a gift (shocking at this point, I know).

While everyone loves travel, there are reasons to stop and think about this one.  First of all, it’s expensive.  There’s a lot involved with travel, especially international travel.  Are you/the photographer ready for all that?  Also, you should ask yourself if the photographer is ready for that kind of trip for photography.  A beginner certainly is not.  While it would be fun, the photography side would be less than profitable at a minimum.  Don’t squander what could be a once-in-a-lifetime photography trip on someone who isn’t interested in or ready for said trip.

Conclusion

So, in conclusion, this is my holiday gift-giving guide for the photographer in your life.  It’s merely a guide.  If you decide to buy something off of the list I recommend against, it’s your money and your gift.  Do what you will.  However, I provide this gift-giving guide to try and make things easier for you as the giver.  With this information contained in this gift-giving guide, you will hardly go wrong with photography-related gifts to the photographer in your life.  While every suggestion may not apply or score well, at least you should avoid the awkwardness of a poorly chosen gift.

So, now I turn things over to you.  What did I miss on my gift-giving guide here?  What was your experience giving a photography-related gift to a photographer in your life?  Would some of the advice here on this gift-giving guide assisted you or did you follow it on your own?  Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.