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Holiday Gift GuideNow that we're past the orgy and over-hype of Black Friday, "cheap goods at cheap prices" as one wag put it, it's time to put aside the "how cheap is it?" mindset and think about what would make a good gift for the family members and friends on your list. This year, the drumbeat of "deals and steals" exceeded all boundaries of taste: Our inbox was filled to overflowing with "pre-Black Friday" and "pre-pre-Black Friday," even "Green Black Friday" offers. Let's get back to the spirit of the season. Surprise the photographer in your life with one of these thoughtful gift ideas. The staff at the New York Institute of Photography, America's oldest and largest photography school, chose these items from the innovative and exciting items that entered the market this year as well as highlighting some tried-and-tested photo products that we love. There are lots of holiday lists provided by stores and magazines, but they're often swayed by profit margins or advertisers. At NYI, we're advertiser-free, so we talked to our staff of working photographers and came up with the following selective — and short — list. 1) 20 Personalized U.S. Postage Stamps ($18.95)Order a set of official U.S. postage stamps that are customized with the image of your choice. A book of stamps printed with your favorite photographer's prized landscape or portrait photo will be sure to delight.  2) Spyder 3 Express ($169)A color calibration system is a great gift for photographers who are serious about making quality prints at home. In our experience, this recently upgraded system from Spyder is great for ensuring that the colors in your prints match the colors on the screen. For photographers who do their own printing, a color management system is needed to achieve professional results, and the Spyder 3 is an affordable and accurate solution. We got a demonstration of the Spyder 3 at this year's PhotoPlus Expo.  3) Blurb gift card ($20 and up)Give the gift of self publishing, and let your photographer create his or her own photo book! There's nothing more satisfying for aspiring photographers than seeing their work in print. Custom publishing companies like Blurb give photographers the chance to create their dream compilations of their work. These books are available in hard cover and soft cover, in a variety of sizes. A $20 gift card will get your photographer an 8 x 10 soft cover album.  4) Fifty Business cards from MOO.com ($21.99)
The staff of NYIP recently met up with Lisa Rodwell of MOO.com at the Photo Plus Expo in New York. Click here to see our interview with her, and learn more about MOO. 5) Aquapac Waterproof Camera Cases ($30 and up)These sealed camera cases allow you to use any camera in the water! If the photographer in your family is interested in underwater photography, a waterproof case will make it easy to explore this fascinating specialty area. $30 will get you a waterproof case for a digital point-and-shoot; for slightly more you can buy cases for an SLR or video camera.  6) Flip Mino Video HD ($199)A great addition to any camera bag! The Flip has been getting a lot of hype, and in our opinion, it deserves it. One of the things we love about the Flip is its small size. We find that working in the field with the Flip leaves subjects much more relaxed than having a big camcorder thrust in their face. The Flip, which markets itself as the "World's smallest HD camcorder" may look like a toy, but it's the real deal. Here's a sneak peek at a soon-to-be-released installment of NYI On Location that was shot on the Flip:  7) Lensbaby Composer ($270)For the creative photographer looking to experiment with unique optics, the Lensbaby Composer allows you to take selective focus to a whole new level. Its unique ball and socket system allows you to move your area of focus anywhere within the frame. Lensbaby offers a number of innovative products that can give your photographs a different look. Lensbaby principal Sam Pardue showed us some of the newest features at PhotoPlus Expo.  8) Memory Kick SI 160GB ($299)
For the traveling photographer who needs a storage solution on the go, this is our choice. The Memory Kick can connect to as many as three different memory cards at once, accommodates all current card formats, and is really, really, fast. Even better, it has a photo viewing system that gives you constant access to your collection of photographs. 9) Personalized Mouse pads from Fotki.com ($6.95) 10) Joby Gorillapod ($21.95 and up)If your photographer doesn't want to lug a heavy tripod around, but still wants sharp photos, check out the flexible Gorillapods! Their unique design allows them to be used just about anywhere. The $21.95 model will support a small pocket-sized camera. For a DSLR with a zoom lens, check out the Gorillapod SLR Zoom at $49.95. 
Whatever gifts you choose, the holiday season starts off a year-long adventure of picture taking. Enjoy! |
A set of beautiful, customizable business cards allows a photographer to put different images on every card so that they function as both business cards and a mini portfolio. They'll make a perfect stocking stuffer for the networking photographer!
This is an exciting 
Finally, if you've got a family member or friend who really loves taking photographs, but who is still using a point-and-shoot camera, consider the ultimate gift — a digital single lens reflex camera. They're better and less costly than ever, with models starting under $500 and a great selection of high-performance cameras in the under $1,000 range. All the principal manufacturers — Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Pentax, and Sony — offer cameras with lots of interesting features. In the past year, we've seen many models arrive on the market with High Definition video capacity, and Pentax is leading the way to visual variety with its new Kx model that comes in four colors — red, white, and blue, along with the usual black.Loading
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