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Advanced Photographer Gift Guide

Advanced Photographer

 

Finally, the last post in my series of gift ideas for photographers is for your advanced photographer. If you are buying for a beginner photographer, click here for gift ideas. If you are buying for an intermediate photographer, click here for gift ideas. If you know someone interested in upping their game for mobile photography, click here for gift ideas.

When someone on your gift list has a lot of experience with photography purchasing a gift for them can seem a little daunting. It’s hard to know what they might need if you aren’t a photographer yourself. Here are some great gift ideas for the advanced photographer.

My last gift guide for the intermediate photographer we recommended adding off camera lighting. For this advanced photographer gift guide, we are going to build on that even further. Now that you have a more advanced camera and some advanced lighting, we are going to add ways to shape that light, color that light and make your own in home studio. Be sure to scroll all the way through the post to make sure you also see some extra goodies your advanced photographer is going to love.

 

 

*This post contains affiliate links. This means when you click on a link and purchase an item, I receive a small marketing payment from Amazon.com , ETSY  or CreativeLive AT NO COST TO YOU! 

Shape your light

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3-in-1 Flash Grid System with 3-Gel Set – One technique your advanced photographer can develop is how to shape his light to gain unique and beautiful photographs. One tool you can use is this flash grid system that will work with your flashes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Neewer 47″ Umbrella Softbox is another tool that can be used to shape your light. This is an excellent tool for portraits and is very standard for studio portraiture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last light shaping tool I recommend would be this beauty dish. It is designed to provide very soft light to help make your subject more, well, beautiful! 😉 Seriously though, it casts a very soft light that compliments the face when shooting portraits.

 

 

Color your light

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lighting Filter Kit – Another technique for your advanced photographer to learn about is different ways to use off camera lighting. One way is to color some of the lighting to enhance the mood or just make fun colored backgrounds. These filters are quick and easy to use and come in just about every color of the rainbow.

 

 

Position your light

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pocket Wizard Wireless Tranceiver -These devices allow you to put your external flash or studio lights anywhere you want and be able to fire them without being connected by a cord. At a minimum, you’ll need one for your camera and one to go on the light (flash or studio light) that you want to fire. If you have more than one flash, you’ll want to get one PocketWizard tranceiver for each light. Pocket Wizards are the industry standard for photographers and are premuim build and relability. Of course that also comes at a higher price. If you want to start out with something less expensive, try out these Neewer 2.4G Wireless Remote Flash Trigger Transceivers. Much easier on the budget for these off brand wireless tranceivers. If your man is big on proven name brand products, you may want to go with the Pocket Wizards so he doesn’t have to return them.

 

 

Home Studio

Does your guy want to get into making studio quality portraits? Or maybe you want him to be into that (think of all those photos fo your children he can take and fewer trips to and money to pay the local or mall photo shop. If he already has the lights, he just needs a couple more items to have his own home photo studio.

 

Backdrop Frame

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First up for the studio is the backdrop frame  This is what you will use to hang your backdrop on. This is a really good price for most of the basics you need to setup your home studio.

 

Backdrop

The other item you will need is the actual backdrop. There are some backdrops especially designed for studio photography but you really could use almost anything that you like. To make your gifting easier though, I’m going to recommend two versatile backdrops:

 

Seamless Background Paper – Super White
Seamless Background Paper – Super Black

 

See tons of other options for all types of occasions, click here to browse more options if you are thinking of something specific.

 

Here are some examples of what kinds of photos you can take using this basic setup:

 

 

Custom Camera Strap

How about a unique or custom camera strap for your advanced photographer? Check out some of these handmade camera straps that I found on Etsy. There are a wide range of handmade items made out of different materials, colors and designs. For custom items, make sure you get your orders in ASAP so the seller has time to hand craft your unique gift and ship in time for Christmas.

Leather Camera Strap 

Custom Leather Camera Strap with Name 

Floral Custom Camera Strap with Name 

 

 

Software

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If your advanced photographer isn’t already using software to edit his digital images, gifting him software is a must!  Adobe Lightroom is my recommendation because it focuses on editing your photos and managing your photo library.

 

 

Advanced Photographer Educational Resources

Does your photographer need some inspiration or step by step instruction on how to master a certain type of photography? Yes, there a lot of online tutorials but he may want to learn something specific like this class on how to shoot awesome food photography. Find and buy that class for your guy or browse all the other options on CreativeLive, here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monthly magazines

My guy loves to travel and the next best thing to being on an adventure is planning your next adventure. Of course the next adventure needs to be a photogenic one, so get him a subscription to a magazine like National Geographic Traveler so he will stay inspired all year long. This should also benefit you if you are his fave traveling partner!

 

Online Courses

There are lots of amazing online courses for photographers, these are easy to gift as well. You can set it up so it email the recipient on a certain date. Some great courses include:

Beyond DSLR Basics: Composition and Lighting

The portrait lighting challenge: Natural vs Studio

Travel Photography: The Complete Guide 

Photographing America’s National Parks 

Creative Application of Color through Post Processing

 

 

Next Level / Over the top advanced photographer gift

If your guy is already an advanced photographer and has everything already, you might consider something over the top to really surprise him!  How about gifting him a trip to an extremely photographic spot like New York City?  So many sights, people, food and activities to photograph, the sky is the limit!

 

 

 

 

 

 

You could also include a shopping spree to the NYC retail photography mecca called B&H Photo.  B&H Photo has a huge online presence as well but their retail store is incredible.  Trust me, if your guy loves photography, he will love spending time and playing with all things camera in this superstore!

I hope this helps you with gifts for your advanced photographer, and I hope you buy a photography trip and get to go with! 😉

Happy Gifting!

Steph

If an advanced hobby photographer is on your list...here are some gift ideas that they will love! #christmasgift #giftideas #photographer #advancedphotography #giftguide #photographygiftguide #giftsforhim #giftsforher

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