Photographer's Holiday Gift Buying Guide

Some of you are scrambling this time of year to get that photographer on your list something that is perfect for them but you don't want to spend too much, since it's their hobby, not yours. Here is a short list of suggestions that might fill that need or fill the stocking. These are not in any order but I tried to keep things down to a "gift" price point, most are under $25.

A Polarizing Filter

A Polarizing filter is just about the only filter every photographer should have in their bag.  They are fantastic for cutting glare on lakes and windows, enhancing the greens of leaves, cutting though haze and lowering the the density of an image to get more motion in a shot when there is too MUCH light.  You'll need to get the filter size of the lens they primarily use. That is stamped on the front edge of the lens.  If they have several lenses, get the largest filter size, they can rest on the edge of the lenses that it doesn't fit. As with anything optical, you can spend about $20 on up to $420 - this has to do with quality of glass and size.  Get them started with an inexpensive polarizer and let them see how it can improve their photography.

Bag for Digital Cards

I like the Pixel Pocket Rocket available at Think Tank  This company make fantastic products with tons of accessories. The Pixel Pocket Rocket is under $20 and holds up to 10 Compact Flash cards or you get a simular holder for SD cards.

Magazine Subscription

Get them a subscription to Outdoor Photographer magazine. Each month the magazine is loaded with tips and inspiration for nature and landscape shooters.

iphone App for the Sun Position

If they are a photographer and have an iPhone you have to get them the The Photographer's Ephemeris app.  This is a clever app that tells you where the sun is going to come up or where it's going to set.  The app uses Google Maps to pinpoint your location so they'll know which building the sun it going to come up over or which mountain top the sun will set behind.  I've used it, I love it!

Bushnell Backtrack

The Backtrack by Bushnell is a handy device that a photographer can use quite often.  Once they get to the perfect spot, a lot of times it not the best time of day and they want to come back at sunrise. With this device, you simply mark where are and head back.  The next morning, use the Backtrack to get right back where you were - even in the dark!  They can also use it to simply find their car in parking lot of a crowded mall, that day after Christmas.

Camera Wrap

Lets say you are one of those photographers that toss their camera in their purse for a quick trip.  The camera wrap can help protect that second lens or a camera body.  Tenba makes a good one that is simple to use but offers some good protection.  Works kind of like a diaper for your camera, wrap it up and you are ready to go!

Autumn in New Hampshire

Here are a few select images from New Hampshire last month.

Steller's Jay

 

While the Blue Jay is very commonly found  in North America, the Steller's Jay is the only crested Jay west of the Rocky Mountains.  So, most of the time when you are in the California mountains and see this bird, it's a Steller's Jay.  This one is unusual in that part of its upper beak has broken off. This kind of injury would be a death sentence to a less versatile, tiny seed eating bird but this Steller's Jay gets along pretty well

This image was captured with a Nikon D4 and 600 mm f/4 lens.  The shallow depth of field works well to isolate the bird from a possibly distracting background.

Building Stock Photography

Stock photography is fantastic way to be reminded about past images. I was asked to photograph a victorian home for Alameda Magazine back in 2004.  I scouted the location and then returned at the best time of day to get the image I wanted.  I was disappointed that the owners were not home at the time, since there were some things that wanted to take some liberties with, for the image.  For example, they had some political signs in the front yard that needed removing, along with a few other things I wanted to change.  I returned a few days later after making an appointment with the owners about taking the photograph of their home.  We took down the signs, and I had them turn on all the lights in the house. Unfortunately, not every room in the old home had lights to turn on!  Undaunted, I shot a series of images as sun dropped in the sky and figured I could fix a few things in Photoshop later.

The first thing I realized was the sky wasn't very nice. Pure white is not all that compelling. Thankfully, I shot some sky photographs near this home a day or two earlier so I grabbed those out of archive. Next I had to do some tonal changes to the front of the house. After some change of levels, burning and dodging, and color correction I started to see the image I was looking for.

I selected out the top edge of the home and dropped it out so I could place in any sky I wanted at that point.  I tried to find an evening sky that looked compatible.

 Lastly, I had to go into the image and fix the details.  Some of the changes are marked above.  Taking out the man-hole cover, fixing the shaggy lawn, turning on lights in rooms that did not even have lights. Color correcting the front porch light. Darkening the street, softening  the side buildings to bring focus to the Victorian.  Fun stuff.

 Extra sky was added to give room for the magazine to print the magazine title and other information.  The great thing about this image is that has been sold several times.  Just last week, some eight years after it ran the first time, The Alameda Civic Ballet will be using it in one of their campaigns. Stock photography, the gift that keeps on giving.

Sea Otters

The endangered California Sea Otter is a fantastic subject for photographing.  While in the Monterey area of California, I happened upon a group lounging in the sun and took out my 600mm lens with 1.7 converter and started shooting.  They drifted in a small inlet as they cleaned themselves and floated in the sun.  When the opportunity arises to photograph wildlife, make sure to make the best of it.  Move around if you can to get different angles. In this case I photographed groups as well as individuals.

Whenever possible always try to get some vertical as well as horizontal images. I always try to shoot some images with space to the left, space to the right and space above on a vertical to allow for a magazine to use your photograph as a cover. This will allow them the needed space to print your image "full bleed" (meaning that the whole page will be used for your photograph) and to have space for the magazine name, and story topics.