While it's not the camera, it's the not the software, it's not the lens, it's not the gear that makes a great photo so great, they all do help the photographer capture what it is his eye wants us to see. 

So, with that in mind, we've invited our very talented (NY Timelapse | My Trip to the Dominican Republic) photographer friend, Amon Focus, to pick some things that you might want to buy for that budding photog in your life.

1. A good backpack

With all the stuff, the camera and lenses, the memory cards, cords, chargers, batteries, laptop, it is easy to feel like your more of a roadie than a photographer. The Lowepro Fastpack 250 Backpack keeps it all in place and lets you focus on photography. 

What I really like about this backpack is that I can fit, 3 decent lenses, a 15 inch laptop, my camera plus various types of audio recording gear and it's all securely, comfortably and evenly distributed throughout the bag. 

2. Handy Diffuser

This diffuser is perfect for event photography. It has a unique way of sending soft light on a particular subject. Keeping a diffuser at the ready is often key to getting the shot, with the lighting you want.  The fact that the Gary Fong Lightsphere Collapsible Inverted Dome Diffuser does collapse and stow away neatly in your pack makes it that much more likely you'll get to benefit from it. This diffuser is perfect for event photography. It has a unique way of sending soft light on a particular subject. 

3. Light Reflector

Portable Reflectors are very useful when shooting outside portraits. Depending on the time of day and the weather, there may be hard shadows across the face and or neck of your subject. You can soften these shadows with a portable reflector like the Interfit Collapsible 5-in-1 Reflector Kit. One thing to keep in mind, since you're usually bouncing light off of the sun, your also bouncing heat. Be sure to take breaks if your subject gets too hot. Also watch for their eyes, the reflected light may cause them to squint if it's too bright. It's a useful inexpensive tool that doesn't add much weight to your bag.

4. Photo Editing tools

Making mistakes is a large part of getting good at photography and these days it doesn't take much to fix them. Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 is the perfect solution to fixing various photography errors especially if you are shooting RAW (which you should be if you are just starting out). Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 is also good at making minor tweaks and they also have some pretty cool photo effects. It's also a great solution for keeping your shoots organized. 

5. Learning

Like any craft, photography is something you can't just learn once and be done with it. Well, you can, but you will quickly and consistently be outstripped by those whose curiosity  humility and openness lead them to try and learn and learn some more. A Kelby Training Subscription makes a lot of that effort to learn a lot easier and more effective.

Amon Focus is a Creative Director that has flourished into a multimedia sought after brand. Whether it’s for an individual, community, non-profit, Fortune 500 companies, fun or travel, the overall mission is to capture life by way of telling stories.

Through filmmaking, portraiture and time-lapse photography Amon specializes in an organic approach of making emotional connections using these disciplines to educate viewers about various places, products and services.