Here is a treasure trove of gift ideas for photographers of all levels and for all budgets. You’ll find gift ideas for point-and-shoot photographers, film photographers, DSLR users, book & magazine ideas, and of course, stocking stuffers. Many of these gifts would be great for kid or teen photographers as well. You’ll find pages and pages of ideas for all of the photographers in your life (and maybe some ideas for yourself!).

[My Mini Disclaimer: By the time you read this, some of the prices may have changed. I don’t own many of these products (though I definitely yearn for some) nor have I used all of these websites. You may be able to find some of these items less expensively somewhere else.]

Crumpler Bags - Super stylish photography bags. These bags come in all shapes, sizes and colors. I find that regular camera bags are really light on style. These bags will make your photographer look super cool. They’re available at Crumpler Bags and Amazon.

Handcrafted Camera Straps & Other Unique Items
I found some super cute camera straps at Etsy.com. It’s a great website filled with handcrafted goods. In fact, if you search Etsy for the word, “camera,” you’ll get all kinds of great ideas for the photographer in your life, including t-shirts, buttons, jewelry, camera bags, ranging from the quirky to the elegant. Search for “Camera Strap,” and you’ll find several different styles. I just bought this one for myself and I love it!

Gorillapod
A flexible, adaptable mini tripod in different sizes for point-and-shoot and SLR users. It can be wrapped around trees, fences, rocks and all kinds of things. Available at Amazon or Joby.com

Photo Editing Software
The next step to great photography is to take the leap into photo editing. There are many programs available such as Photoshop, Adobe Lightroom, and even Picasa (free download from Google)

Subscription to Flickr
Flickr is more than a place for photo storage. It’s a community of photographers, a place to inspire your own work, and a great place to learn. For $24.95 you get a year of unlimited storage and uploads. It’s a great safe place to store your pictures.

Holga Camera
This is a low-tech, all plastic, inexpensive, medium format film camera. It yields fun, slightly distorted images that bring an added layer of creativity to your photography. Include a couple of rolls of 120 film in the package for fun. $38 with flash, $25 without flash.

Pop 9 - 9 Lens Camera
A hilarious, stylish. shiny, golden, plastic 35mm film camera that has 9 individual lenses. It takes Pop Art-style pictures that have 9 separate images on each frame of film from 9 separate lenses. It is definitely not a long-lasting camera, and may only last a few roles of film before it croaks out, but it takes awesome and fun pictures for the low low price of $29.95.

35mm Fisheye Camera
Another 35mm film camera from the Lomographic folks that sports a fisheye lens. The images are circular and look like convenience store security camera shots. To buy a fisheye lens for a DSLR camera is really expensive, and you probably won’t use it that often. This inexpensive alternative is the perfect solution. $34.99 no frills version, or $65 with more bells and whistles.

Lensbabies
These fun lenses allow you to angle the focus of an image. They’re great for unusual portraits and product shots. There are three versions at different price ranges. The newest version allows you to lock the angle in place. Make sure you buy the correct lens mount for your photographer’s camera. It is available for Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Minolta and Pentax cameras $96-270 at Amazon or Lensbabies.com.

Filters
There are so many different filters and they can be very fun to play with (they’re mostly for SLR’s and not point-and-shoot cameras). You will need to know the size of the front of the lenses your photographer uses in order to select the proper size (most photographers keep a haze filter on their lenses all the time, and the millimeters of the filter will be printed there). Otherwise, try a 3-inch square filters such as a sunset grad or an ND grad which will color or darken part of the frame. You can find filters at Amazon, Adorama, Samy’s Camera or your local camera store. Here are some filter ideas:
Circular Polarizer

Soft FX or Black Promist (great for softening portraits)
Grad Filters
Star Filter
85 or 81A warming filters
Neutral Density

Tripod
There are so many tripods on the market. Choose one that’s sturdy, portable and has a good range of extendable legs.

Digital Photo Frame
These photo frames cycle images either from a memory card or via a wireless connection to your computer. It would be a great gift for someone who works in an office. There are a hundred different kinds of frames on the market. This one from Amazon ($139) has 4 interchangeable frame colors and was the highest rated frame I could find. I also saw one on sale at Costco. Prices range from $80-200.

Reflectors
These come in many sizes and colors (white, shiny silver, gold, etc.). They’re great for bouncing light into faces or onto products.

Photo Classes
Look for photography classes at local colleges and community colleges. There are wonderful 1-week classes at The Workshops in Maine. They also have a great classes for teens. I used to work there many years ago and cannot recommend the classes highly enough.

Photo Travel Tours
There are many different photography tours all around the world, including wildlife tours, architecture tours, underwater photo tours and expeditions ranging from simple to downright adventurous.

Gift Certificate to a Camera Rental House
Renting a specialty lens, camera, or light fixture can be a special treat for even a professional photographer. Research the rental houses in your area.

STOCKING STUFFERS & SMALL GIFTS

Infrared Film - great for fun infrared effects, something many photographers haven’t tried. The black & white film makes trees and foliage look white and the effect is very dramatic and artistic. $9 per roll.

Lens Pen - lens cleaning pen. There are several available. This one by Nikon runs $8.

Digital Keychain - a nifty keychain for cycling digital pictures. There are several on the market, but this one is only $20 and it holds up to 62 pictures and has a 1.5-inch display. I’ve also seen them at the checkout area of Bed Bath and Beyond

Moo Stickers - Put together a sticker book from your photographer’s images. A book of 90 stickers is $10.

Bubble Level - Use a super small bubble level on the top of the camera to help make horizons level. This double bubble level is specially made to fit in the hot shoe of SLR cameras. It’s pricey, though at $30. An super cheap version from Home Depot would work just as well and look cool and hard core.

Disposable Cameras - There are lots of different kinds of disposable cameras. Try something fun like an underwater camera.

Memory Cards - find out which kind of memory card your photographer’s camera uses and pick up an extra one. You can buy these pretty inexpensively at places like Costco.

Cable Release - For SLR cameras, these allow you to trigger the shutter without moving the camera. Its great for long exposures and night shots

Put together a Lens Cleaning Kit - Include a small can of compressed air, lens cleaning solution, lens tissue, Q-tips, micro fiber cleaning cloth

Pez !! - a Pez dispenser fits almost perfectly in the hot shoe of SLR cameras. It’s a great tool if you’re photographing kids, and a playful toy for grownups in the stocking. And they’re only about a buck! You may have to file the edges of the feet down a little bit for a nice fit, but it’ll only take a second.

BOOKS & MAGAZINES

Digital Camera Magazine
This is a British magazine and is expensive to order for American readers, but it’s a great magazine for beginner and intermediate photographers. It’s one of my favorites. If you don’t want to subscribe, I’ve found it on magazine shelves at some Border’s Bookstores.

Light: Science and Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting - This is my favorite book about lighting and it will be required reading for my cinematography class
Skin: The Complete Guide to Digitally Lighting, Photographing, and Retouching Faces and Bodies. $39.95
The Camera, (Ansel Adams Photography, Book 1). $16.50
The Negative (Ansel Adams Photography, Book 2). $16.50
The Print (Ansel Adams Photography, Book 3). $16.50

Masters of Photography Boxed Set (Aperture Master’s of Photography). $41
A Photographer’s Life: 1990-2005, by Annie Leibovitz

Hurrell’s Hollywood Portraits

GIFTS ON A BUDGET

If you’re looking for deals, try eBay, KEH.com (great used camera equipment), and even Craig’s List. Look for used books online and at secondhand bookstores. A vintage Brownie camera or an old Poloroid are fun additions to a photographer’s collection. And for film photographers, you can never go wrong with the gift of film.

If you’ve got no budget at all, try downloading some free photo editing programs to your photographer’s computer such as Picasa or FotoFlexer. Put together an online album of your photographer’s pictures. A 4 x 6 print from a digital file or negative can cost as little as $0.20, and a little creative framing can make a wonderful gift for the price of some couch change. You can also set up your photographer with a free Flickr account. It’s not as cool as a Flickr Pro account, but it’s a great place to start.