Let me tell you a little story about a photographer who was unprepared. She got all her gear together, packed her camera bag, and headed out to do a client session. Everything was great, until she went to turn the camera on and it was dead. I mean, wouldn’t turn on, wouldn’t flash at all… d e d. This would have been fine if said photographer had been prepared with another battery… but she wasn’t. This person was me. Not my proudest moment, and I definitely did not look good in front of my clients. Luckily, I had an awesome friend come and bring me an extra battery – but this won’t always be the case. You could find yourself in this same situation, or you could be prepared and make sure you have this camera gear you need to keep in your bag! Everyone has different needs, so here are a few pieces of camera gear you need to keep in your bag.

Camera Gear You Need to Keep in Your Bag

Extra Batteries

This goes for camera batteries as well as batteries for your external flash unit. You can get one from your camera manufacturer, or get a third party model off Amazon. It will never hurt you to have an extra, and in fact might save your bum!

Extra Memory Cards

Whether you shoot with SD or CF memory cards, you need to have a few backups – just in case. And with memory cards being as inexpensive as they are today, there’s really no excuse for not having more cards in your bag.

If you’re interested to see what we pack, you can check out what’s in our bag. The gear we bring varies based on what we are shooting (portrait session vs wedding day), but I’d much rather be over, rather than under-prepared.

Duct Tape/Gaffers Tape

It might seem a bit out of place to have in your bag, but tape is essential! We’ve used it for everything from keeping a prop in place, to holding up a wedding dress on a window. We love gaffers tape specifically because it holds stuff in place without leaving a nasty residue behind when you’re done.

LensPen

This bad boy has been a lifesaver when it comes to keeping our lenses clean. Using a LensPen removes the dust and fingerprints from the ends of your lens. So say bye bye to debris and particles on your images! There’s really no better option for keeping your lens crystal clear!

Small Flashlight

I can’t tell you the number of times I have used a flashlight at weddings! Usually, it’s in a low light situation (you know, the really romantic, moody ones). Eric will shine the light on the couple so my camera can grab the focus, then turn it off so I can nail the shot without any light pollution. Works like a charm every time! Like this wedding where we photographed the couple enjoying fireworks at the end of the night!

Clamps/Clips

These are useful for so many different things! From clamping stuff in place, to making clothing fit a little more flattering. Clips also make it easy to place lighting exactly where you want. You can find them at your local hardware store, and we recommend having large and small ones.

We’ve All Done It

If you are guilty of not having this camera gear you need to keep in your bag, don’t stress it… we all are! We’ve all been there! But I’m hoping that you will be able to learn from our mistakes, and get out there and be even more kick awesome than we are!

Need Help Getting Out of Your Slump?

If you need more camera info, we offer one on one mentoring to help! We also put together free events for photographers, and you can always { Contact Us } for anything you need – even if it’s just a friendly face to say you’re on the right track!