Photography takes an instant out of time, altering life by holding it still. ~ Dorothea Lange Photography is a very exciting art of capturing moments. It is one of the most rewarding hobbies that can actually be turned into a full-time career. This enchanting field is huge and involves several branches like outdoor photography, nature photography, still life photography, color photography, fashion photography, and so on. Professional photography is a promising but a demanding career, where innovation and creativity are only part of the job. Along with that, you have to be technically strong, too. That includes using the appropriate and professional accessories. However, some purists would argue that they are 'accessories', that means they are not a need, they are a want, and that good photography needs only a camera and passion. Nevertheless, in today's competitive world, we need to be as professional as we are passionate. Following is a list of accessories that many professionals swear by and are recommended for all those looking at making it big in the world of pictures. 1. Lamp Reflectors Reflectors are used to focus light on a particular area but cannot control the intensity of light. They are fitted behind the lamp. These are very useful for product photography. They are usually made up of aluminum and come in different sizes. 2. Softboxes Softboxes are another way of creating effects by controlling light. They do it by passing light through diffusing material. They are commonly lined with some reflective material like aluminum to help reflection. If you want to use it with continuous hot lighting, take precautions to avoid fire risk. 3. Laptop with Photoshop This has nothing to do with photography, but it has a great deal to do with the final product which is also the most important thing. Adobe Photoshop offers some great options to improve the photographs. But use it only for small changes and don't tweak the picture too much as there are ways to detect such manipulations. 4. Umbrellas Umbrellas in photography are used to create a diffused effect with soft shadows and no harsh edges. It is done by bouncing, reflecting, or softening light falling on the object to be photographed. There are two types of umbrellas, one is bounce and the other is shoot through. The bounce umbrella bounces light back to the subject and a shoot through umbrella aims the light at the subject through the umbrella, giving a softbox effect. Photography Accessories for the Outdoors: When you are capturing the outdoors there are some accessories that you just can't do without. Check out this list below. 1. Remote Shutter Release Cable As its name suggests, a remote shutter release cable helps take pictures remotely, that is you don't have to be behind the camera holding it. It is a great equipment for taking self-pictures. Your camera may have a timer option, but that is not a very flexible way when it comes to professional photography. 2. Sturdy Tripod A tripod is used to give the camera stability, and hence, is used more for still-life photography. A tripod is also useful in attaining proper framing of the image or when more than one image is being made of the same scene. The shots are clearer and blur-free. 3. Light Tent/Kit Translucent fabric attached to a frame that surrounds a subject. Typically used to reduce reflection from highly reflective subjects. The light source is external to the enclosure and the lens comes through a hole in the fabric. It is important for many photography techniques that a professional photographer needs to use. 4. Flash Natural light may not always be supportive and you may need extra light to capture detail. Here, the flash can come in handy. Especially for wildlife photography, many pictures have to be taken in the night or in failing light and it is mandatory to use flash for that. 5. Memory Cards This is kind of obvious, but is worth reminding. Take extra memory cards as a backup. Fortunately, the capacity of memory cards is increasing. But instead of taking a single 8 GB memory card I would suggest you to take four 2 GB cards as sometimes a card may get corrupt. I hope you found this information useful. There are other accessories that may also prove useful but the ones mentioned above are absolutely important.