My Favorite Photography Accessories & Gear

I’m sharing my favorite things that I use in my photography business: gear, accessories, blankets, etc. Not because I think you need every single one of these things to be a great photographer because you don’t. But these are all things that I use and find either useful or awesome or both!

This isn’t a list of things I can’t live without (okay, maybe a couple fall into that category). It’s more like: here are some favorite finds that make my job smoother, my clients happier, or just bring a little extra joy my life.

Some are super practical. Some are purely fun. All of them have earned a spot on my list for one reason or another.

Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links (but not all, I’m not choosing things just because I have a link!), but only for products I use and love (seriously, I only included them if I was obsessed with them!). If you buy through them, I’ll earn some cash for coffee (or tea). But don’t worry, I’ll use that energy to create more helpful content for you!

The Cutest Floral Crown for Photography

I love having little girls wear a Eucalyptus crown for photo sessions, it just looks so cute and adds some interest, especially for sessions in the Spring and Summer. I have quite a few of these types of floral crowns and they always look good but this one is my favorite. The leaves are soft, rather than stiff, so they look more realistic than some of the more plastic-y looking ones that you may see.

Most Used Camera + Lens Combo

For my outdoor shoots, I typically bring two cameras and two lenses along with me. I have two Canon R5 mirrorless cameras with the Canon RF 85mm 1.2 and the Canon RF 28-70 2.0. Yes, it’s a ridiculously expensive combination and no, you don’t need to get exactly what I have. I have also loved a lot of other lenses (like the Canon RF 35mm 1.4, which I still own and sometimes use when creating family films because it’s lightweight and my favorite focal length).

My Favorite Amazon Dress for Family Photos

So let’s start by saying that Amazon is so NOT my favorite place to get dresses, but I know it’s convenient for a lot of people and sometimes you just need something fast. So, if you need a dress from Amazon, then this cute dress is so great because it’s really stretchy so it can fit a range of sizes, and it has a subtle raised circle pattern for texture, plus it comes in a ton of colors. It’s also a great length so it’s prefect for the shorter gals who don’t want their dresses hitting the ground or tripping on them. It makes it easy to play in, which is perfect for fun family photos.

You can also see my full list of fav amazon dresses.

If you want to see my favorite epic dresses for sessions, I have an article on that.

Best Portable Changing Tent

If you have a client closet, or even if you encourage families to wait to get dressed at the location so their stuff doesn’t wrinkle, then it’s so helpful to have a portable changing tent! I have tried many over the years and this one is the most durable, plus it’s big enough for a man, or a parent and child together. Also, it has lasted the longest! Some of them have pretty flimsy wires, which warp over time and make it impossible to fold. This one has stronger wires that have already lasted me years (and I use it at least 3x as month, maybe more). Make sure you’re getting the basic one that doesn’t come with any ropes. It’s currently around $60.

My Favorite Camera Bags

I have the Allison camera bag from  JoTotes and it’s absolutely beautiful! For a camera bag it’s pretty small, but I can still fit a camera with lens attached, plus 2 more lenses, or two cameras with lenses attached. It has tons of extra zippered compartments so I have places to put all my things. I love that it looks like an over-sized purse so no one would guess there’s a camera in there. It comes in other colors, but I chose Butterscotch because I’m a sucker for brown.

Another camera bag that I love is my Brevite backpack. I use this the most often now, especially when I travel because it has a spot for my computer (it fit’s my 16 inch MacBook pro!), and still has room to put some clothes in the top zipper if I need to. I got the bright yellow, and let me tell you… it is BRIGHT. But hey, I’m not going to lose it and it’s a very happy color. 🙂

The Best Clothing Steamer

If you have a Client Closet, or even if you just need to steam a muslin baby blanket for a newborn session, it’s great to have a handheld steamer on hand, This way you can bring it along if you go out of town. But you also don’t want it to be so tiny that it takes you forever to steam anything. The perfect sized steamer is this steamer from Conair. I’ve had mine for years and it still works great!

My Favorite Blankets

If you need a blanket that is perfect for keeping kids warm in the colder months, this textured blanket is gorgeous (pictured above)! It comes in different colors and the texture and fringe look great on camera.

I also absolutely love using vintage quilts for family sessions because you can put it on the ground and it usually doesn’t pick up all the dry grass and stickers. My favorite place to buy quilts for my sessions is called Stitched and Found. She sends out an e-mail when new blankets are posted and they usually go pretty fast, so get on the mailing list if you want to find the best ones. You can also go to local garage sales and estate sales to look for good deals on old quilts.

Another of my favorite blankets is from Amazon, and it’s pretty perfect. The reason this one is so great is that it’s a tight weave and durable, so you can throw it on the ground and not worry about it. I also really like the texture and subtle pattern, which photographs beautifully.

And if you want to see my full list of fav amazon blankets, enjoy!

The Best Computer Accessories

If you use a laptop and are on the go a lot, you absolutely must use a Portable SSD! There are 2 different kinds of portable hard drives, and this is the kind that doesn’t have moving pieces inside, so if it gets dropped, you have a much better chance of it being totally fine. But if you have just a regular HDD, there are pieces that are spinning in there constantly, and those will likely break if dropped. That’s super dangerous, so if you are using a laptop and not just keeping it on your desk all the time, then you really do need an SSD. I have a 4tb SSD, but if you don’t need that much space, you can get a 2tb SSD. This is what I work off of daily, and then I have larger External Hard Drives that I keep at my desk which hold older files that don’t need to be accessed as often.

To go along with that, one of my favorite accessories that will make your life easier is an adhesive pocket that you can stick on the back of your computer to hold your Portable SSD. The reason I like this pocket best is that it has a little bit of fabric above the hole, which helps stop your drive from falling out. I’ve had ones that don’t have this, and my drive would easily slip right out.

I have a 16 inch Macbook Pro and the case I use is great because it comes in a ton of cute designs, and it’s a hard case but not slippery. It comes with a keyboard cover that I will never use in my life but the actual case is good. Also, if you need a protective bag for taking your laptop places, I have a case that’s small but with tons of pockets to store things in. Great for meeting a friend for coffee and editing (even though we never take our laptops out and end up talking the entire time, lol).

If you have a laptop as your main computer, but want to be comfortable sitting at your desk and working, I have something great for you! I got this ergonomic laptop stand and it is so much more comfortable working at a desk with it. If I just set my laptop at desk height, it’s much too low and my neck will hurt after a while. This fixes that problem. I just use a wireless keyboard on the desk with my laptop on this stand. It’s the best combo I have found.

Something that is super important to me (because I edit a lot, as I’m sure you do, too!) is having an ergonomic mouse. The one that I find the most comfortable is the Razor Basilisk. I’ve seriously had three different versions of this mouse throughout the years and I can’t stand anything else. It’s the best!

How I Capture Behind the Scenes Content

I have a huge folder full of behind the scenes videos from my photo sessions that I use for making reels, posting to my stories, etc. I capture this content in two different ways. The first is to put a mount on top of my camera (it fits into the hot shoe) that hold my phone. I’ve had different versions of these and it’s super important to get the metal one, because it is much stronger and more secure. I had a plastic version before and my phone would fall out, it wasn’t great. So pay the extra little bit and get a metal one! The drawback is when I tip my camera for a portrait, or when I set down my camera and use the other one (since I shoot with two) the footage isn’t great.

The other way that I capture behind the scenes video is with my Meta Glasses! These are great because they are on my face and it captures everything that I see. It also will auto import to my camera roll later, and it auto edits so the video looks a little nicer than usual. It will capture 3 minutes of footage at a time, so you do have to hit record multiple times. It can probably only capture about 30 minutes-ish of footage before it needs to be charged again, though. So you have to choose your moments carefully. But it does beep when it stops recording, so that will remind you to push record again if you want to. The drawback to the footage here is that if I put my eye up to the camera, it doesn’t see the scene anymore so it’s important to look at the back of your camera rather than the viewfinder. And sometimes it’s so sunny that I just need to look through the viewfinder to see, and then the footage isn’t useable. Make sure to get the clear lenses for obvious reasons!

My Fav Camera Harness & Camera Strap

I use a Holdfast Camera Swagg harness to hold my two cameras during outdoor photo sessions. (You can see it pictured in the photo in the previous section.) It’s canvas, which I liked more than leather. It’s super secure and holds your camera with two different straps so you really feel like it’s safe.

For indoor sessions, or if I travel and just take one camera, I use the Peak Design Slide Lite camera strap (pictured above). I love it because you can attach connectors to your camera and quickly switch it out. I also have the wrist strap from them, so I can switch from a neck strap to a wrist strap in just a few seconds. It’s very convenient for someone who switches from using a strap to using a harness, so I don’t have to weave on and off a normal strap every time. It also has a quick adjuster so you can make it crossbody length to a shorter strap in just a second.

Favorite Portable Speaker for Family Photo Sessions

If you like to play music for your families (especially for fussy toddlers) then it’s useful to have a clip-on speaker! The one I have clips onto my fanny pack and connects to my phone through bluetooth so I can easily play music to set the mood. Of course, sometimes I’m at a location that is too windy or too crowded that I don’t feel like music is the way to go, but if I’m at a quiet spot, then this can be really helpful. You could even have a parent connect their phone if they already have their kids’ favorite songs downloaded.

My Favorite Business Book

Have I talked about this book enough yet? The best business book I’ve ever read is Building a Storybrand by Donald Miller. It blew my mind and I am always thinking about what I learned in this book when working on my website or creating marketing materials. I highly recommend it!! You can buy the hardcover, or just listen to the audiobook like I did.

Some other helpful articles might be my favorite Canon cameras, or my favorite Canon lenses.

If you want to see more of my Amazon finds: My Amazon Favorites