First let me say that I was overwhelmed with all the gift ideas I received this year which makes it extremely hard to narrow it down to just a few but I did get it done.  I chose items based on uniqueness, functionality, style, and practicality.  I think with the economy like it is, most people are looking for items they can use to get the most bang for their buck.

The 2009 Gift Guide is up but needs some tweaking so bare with me please.  I’ll be adding products to the gift guide every day so keep checking it out. There will still  be a few featured here over the next couple of weeks as well.

If you are looking for gift ideas for the foodie & kitchen lover, check out My Wooden Spoon’s 2009 Holiday Foodie Gift Guide (which also needs some design tweaking).  I’ll also be adding products their daily as well.

I did some shopping myself over the weekend for Black Friday, how ’bout y’all?  You can see my story via Whrrl! I participated in a fun shopping trip to find the best Black Friday Deals and had a blast doing it! I’d love to hear what you got if you went.

Happy Shopping y’all!

EDITED TO ADD: There’s a giveaway going on for one at Bizziemommy.com that ends on Nov. 12th. Check it out!

EDITED: From the folks at Lightscoop!! If anyone reading this would like to try out lightscoop, we are happy to offer a discount. For 10% off when you purchase Lightscoop – use code TNEWFOLPROMO when you checkout here http://is.gd/2c6of.

It’s hard to get photographers gifts because everything is so dang expensive but the Lightscoop comes in just under $35 and would make for a great gift.

I was asked to review and since I have a SLR camera, I accepted.  It comes with a brief but informative manual, complete with photos and all to show you how to use it.  I read through it all but decided to use my normal settings and just go!  It was super easy to place on the camera and using it was a breeze. From the website:

Lightscoop is a smart low-tech device that creates soft, flattering light by redirecting your camera’s pop-up flash to a ceiling or wall.

Don’t let your convenient little pop-up flash ruin your photos with evil red eye, ugly shadows, hot spots, bleached out faces, underexposed colors, and blurry movement that exist only in your photographs, not in the real world.

Slip a Lightscoop on your camera and never miss out on another fabulous picture! Lightscoop creates soft, natural light and lets you capture the scene the way you see it.

That’s a better description of what I could give you. The best thing I can do is show you the difference it made.  There are times when I’ve wanted to take a picture of the cover of a book or photo inside. I’m weird that way.  I chose this photo of a book we have called, Pitchfork Country-The Photography of Bob Moorhouse.  My brother-in-law is on the cover of that book as well as inside it.  It’s a great picture and I’m a sucker for wagons.  (just in case you need gift ideas for me..just sayin’. )

As you can in the before photo, without the Lightscoop and with the regular flash, it’s very washed out and you can see the light reflection on the book. Not a good photo.

I attached the Lighscoop to my camera and viola!  Now THAT is a HUGE difference!  I’m already sold and that was just the first comparison I did.  I still need to play with it more to get a good feel of what it’s really capable of doing but judging by this photo alone, I’d say it’s worth every cent and I wholeheartedly recommend it to all.