Hi, I'm Erin Manning. I'm a professional photographer and a lot of people ask me,
Erin, what do you keep in your camera bag to take great photographs? And I usually tell
them, well, I have a digital SLR and some lenses and lots of other accessories that
help me take great images. But you know what, I don't always want to carry my big camera
bag around with me. But I do carry my handbag around with me, but I thought I'd share with
you some things I keep in my handbag to always take great photographs.
First off is my compact digital camera. Now this is small and easy to carry, so I take
it with me everywhere. And I keep it inside this little sock because it doesn't take
much room, yet it still protects my camera. Now these compact digital cameras you can
take great photographs and blow them up really big, so I use this a lot when I'm out and
about. You want to make sure though when you have this camera that you always carry an
extra charged battery with you because you don't want to run out of battery juice right
when you're taking that magical shot. You also want to make sure that you have enough
memory card capacity. This is where all of your images are stored. Now this is a one
gigabyte card and it holds a lot of pictures, but if you're on vacation or taking a lot
of photographs you want to make sure maybe you have an extra card to hold all your images.
I keep both these things in my purse. Another thing you want to carry with you is a microfiber
cloth. This allows you to clean off the LCD screen and also keep the front of your camera
lens nice and clean. You can get these, you know, they're very inexpensive. You can get
them at a sunglass store or a camera store. And speaking of sunglasses, here's a little
tip. Whenever you're out and about and you want to take pictures say of water or through
a window, you want to get rid of that reflection. Professional photographers use something called
a polarizing filter. But if you don't have one, you can use polarizing sunglasses. You
just hold them in front of your lens when you're taking the photograph and it gets
rid of the glare and reflection in your picture. If you don't have polarized sunglasses, you
can use any other kind of sunglasses to get some interesting effects. Another thing I
keep with me in my can bag is a little notepad that tells me what I'm doing, where I've been,
who I've met. I keep notes with my little pen and at the end of the pen, I know this
looks kind of dorky, but this is tape, okay? And I use this tape to attach something to
my camera. And I'll show you what it is. These are facial blotting tissues and I use
these to get rid of shine on people's faces when I'm taking their photograph. But they
double as kind of a little flash shield. Sometimes you're taking pictures with your
on-camera flash. It's really bright and harsh. It doesn't look that pretty on your subject
space. But if you just take a little tape off of your pen, you can tape this right in
front of your camera's flash and it softens your pictures. You want to make people look
as good as possible. Another thing I always carry with me, this is a neat little contraption.
It's a brush with a mirror on it. So if kids hair is messy or people's hair is messy, you
can just brush it and they can see how they look. Another thing too, if kids have messy
faces, maybe ice cream or candy all over the place and you don't want to get that in the
picture, I always carry some little wipes with me. Another thing too, to make people
look good, sometimes they have flyaway hairs and the wind is blowing. With this little
hair product, I got it at the beauty supply. Keep this in my purse and you can just kind
of put it through the runaway strands and keep some in place. Next, this is good. You
know, you're out and about, you're taking pictures, but you're never in the photograph.
Say you're with your family traveling. This is a great thing to bring with you. It's really
light and easy to use. You can set it down on a stable surface or you can even wrap it
around a tree branch if you want to. Your camera fits right on the top. You just set
the self timer and then you run go and get in the picture. Here's another thing I like
to use. It's called a quick pod. Now it extends like this. You put your camera on the end
of it and you can hold it out like this to get a self portrait or maybe a portrait of
you and your significant other on vacation and that way you don't have to hand the camera
to someone and you don't have that real big nose wide angle look in your picture either.
And it's really easy and light and fits right in your handbag. Here's another thing. You
know, if you're out and about taking pictures on the landscape, people always look better
in an environmental portrait in early morning hours or late afternoon. And the reason why
is because the sun is softer. It's lower in the sky and softer in your subject space.
So if I'm traveling, sometimes I'll bring this compass with me and I can figure out
where the sun is and where it's going to be in the sky during the rest of the day. This
particular compass also comes with a magnifying glass feature and I use this a lot in front
of my camera lens if I want to magnify what I'm photographing. It's kind of like an extra
macro lens for your camera. Or, you know, if you're in a restaurant and you can't read
the menu, this comes in really handy too. And last but not least is a little multifunction
tool. Now this is kind of the mini version of what professional photographers use, but
I use it to cut things, maybe flowers or tree branches or things I want to include in my
photographs. You never know when you might need one of these. Well, I hope these tips
served you well, but I wanted to share with you one last tip. And that is, when I'm traveling
or running around, I often carry something to keep me warm, a little scar for Pashmina
or whatever you want to call it. But it doubles as a backdrop. You can hold this behind a
friend or family member if you're looking for a pretty color behind their face or if
you want to simplify the background. Just hold this behind them or have someone else
hold it behind them while you're taking the photograph. And, you know, it doubles as a
little wrap. Okay, I hope those tips served you well. I'm ready to take off and start
taking photographs. See you later.
