Pro Photographers Share Tricks & Hacks w/ Cheap Accessories

As photographers, we all develop so many little tricks and techniques to help us to create unique images in any situation. One of our amazing photographers and fearless leaders here at SLR Lounge, Trevor Dayley, thought it would make for a great article to have some of our professional photographer friends share a little accessory that costs less than $30 which helps them to create unique images. I couldn’t have agreed more.

Enjoy the article and please feel free to share with friends and on Social Media.

1-JoAnne Marino Of Imagine Photography

I love to use these tiny battery-powered lights as a GOBO in front of my lens. They add beautiful color and interesting artifacts to the image. I simply put them right in front of the hood and move them until I like the results. Best part? They come in a bunch of different colors and are super inexpensive!

2-Nicole Chan Of Nicole Chan Photography

An uber cheap, kickass accessory that has turbo-boosted my creativity is a monopod for my Speedlight! It allows my assistant (who does not have Go Go Gadget arms) to secure my flash off to the side during first dances or speeches for directional light without her arm falling off from muscle strain and/or exhaustion. For portraits, I sometimes position it overhead to either overpower the sun or during night portraits when no light is available.

3-Leaha & Jeff Bourgeois Of Popography

The Sephora double-sided mirror has given us a new way to make dynamic images for our clients. It is the perfect size and can fit into your pocket or a small insert on your bag. We love that it is flat and almost seamless with a very thing black plastic cover. We can use the mirror or the magnifying mirror depending on what we are going for. It is easy to open, shut and get creative with such a small and powerful tool. We use it for mirrored reflections by putting the mirror flush against the bottom of our lens and moving the mirror until we get the desired effect. We also fold the mirror to a half way open position and can get a really cool effect by pulling in subjects and objects in the room into the frame to tell a better and more interesting story.

4-Neil Van Niekerk Of Photography By Neil Van Niekerk

I use a piece of black foam as a truly inexpensive flash modifier to flag my on-camera flash to give me lighting indoors that truly look nothing like on-camera flash.The piece of foam, which you can buy at art stores, is cut the sheet into smaller pieces. This piece of black foam, which I have dubbed the Black Foamie Thing (BFT), is held in position by two hair bands, and the BFT is usually placed on the under-side of the flash-head.

5-Jon Lemon Of JC Lemon Photography

I use plain old Sticky Tack to arrange pesky rings that won’t stack on their own or need help getting to a specific stack to show off their character.

6-Ashley Fisher Of Ashley Fisher Photography

We often have to make our own magic when it comes to wedding photography, and hanging the dress is no different. We can hang the dress on textured walls, huge windows, or anywhere else we want with this Brushed Nickel Large Command Hook. Just remember to get it down when you’re done (or pick up a few extras if you’re forgetful like me)! And always keep a few extra mounting refill strips in your bag. The hooks support approximately 5 pounds, so really heavy dresses need some extra support, although we’ve used it quickly for those without a problem.

7-Chad DiBlasio Of DiBlasio Photography

One of my favorites is a 6″ prism from Amazon! You can do so much with it but I generally will hold it against the front edges of the lens to add a “glowy” or dreamy look or to reflect an image or color back into my frame. I try not to overuse it, but it definitely makes its way into a lot of my sessions at least for a few shots!

All credits go to Pye Jirsa