5 Affordable Christmas Gifts for Phone Photographers

1. Phone Camera Lens Kit

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With the massive popularity of apps dedicated to photography such as Instagram and Snapchat, both teens and adults are experiencing a greater exposure to the art of photography and with exposure comes greater interest. This series of lenses are a great gift to friends and family who rely on the cameras on their smartphones yet wish to have some of the functions available to dedicated camera bodies such as more zoom, a fish-eye function etc. The most common clip-on phone lenses are the wide-angle lens for gorgeous landscapes, the fish-eye lenses that help to squeeze more people into your selfies or to warp a photo as though you were seeing through a sphere, a telephoto lens that gives your phone a better range of zoom as well as a macro lens for photos taken near to objects like flowers and insects.

Check out this  kit of 3 lenses that can be clipped on top of your phone camera on Amazon here

2.Phone Tripod

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Remember every time when you were at your friend’s house and wanted to take a picture together and there was no one to do it for you? Remember all the times during Chinese New Year when you wanted to take a family photo without leaving out the photographer? Then this phone tripod is just the right gift for you and your loved ones! This versatile holder can grip onto a variety of surfaces to take the perfect picture and with an affordable price point of $10-$20!

Check out this universal smartphone tripod from Amazon here

3. Camera Shutter Remote

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To go along with that snappy new tripod you bought for your smartphone, you might as well get a wireless remote for your phone that can activate the camera shutter. With a price point of $10 to $15 it is a very affordable accessory that can enhance one’s experience in photography. For those who use DSLRs, there are always cheaper third party wireless shutter remotes that can activate the shutter release to take a photo.

Check out the wireless remote for both Android and iOS smartphones here

4. External Flash for Smartphones

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I’m pretty sure all of us had the experience where we wanted to take a selfie/wefie in dim light but we simply couldn’t take a good photo. Remember the late night cycling at East Coast Park but there was no light to take a good picture? With an external flash that can be connected to your smartphones, not only will you get more light for your pictures at night, the light may be softer and make facial tones turn out smoother.

Check out this item on Carousell going for $10 here

5. Filters and Presets

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The VSCO interface on Android smartphones

As more and more phone photographers get serious and wish to up their game, post-processing is now much more popular among those who post pictures onto social media. Be it the OOTD (outfit of the day) or interesting architecture, many will apply special filters and presets to their photos to make objects stand out or simply give photos a special aesthetic. We believe in getting good presets that can give your pictures style and taste without giving it a cheap and sloppy effect. Hence we recommend buying preset packs from apps like VSCO (Visual Supply Company) which have an array of effects that can suit different personal styles of photography.

Since the gifting season is almost upon us, do check out the VSCO store for possible gifts to friends who are keen on photography.