We have quite a lot of gear, but we don’t take everything we have to each session. So, we wanted to let you guys know about our portrait session gear.

At Three Twenty Studio, we do a few different types of portrait sessions. We do engagements, senior portraits, family portraits, and bridal portraits. Depending on the session, things vary a little bit, but there are a few things that we will always have.

Our Camera

First and foremost is going to be our cameras. We shoot with the Canon 5D Mark IVs. We take two of those with us because if one goes down we like to have a backup.

Memory Cards

Another thing that is essential to any photo shoot, the memory cards. This is obviously a must-have but we try to take extras with us too. If we fill up a card, we always have a backup. And we like to shoot on a new memory card if one of our cameras goes down, as an added precaution. Another use for them is for when our assistants shoot our second camera. This ensures that we always have a memory card for them as well!

Batteries

We will also bring extra batteries and a battery charger for our cameras. We normally charge everything up before the session but, in a crazy scenario, we might need to charge something. It’s always much better to have them and not need them, than to need them and not have them.

Lenses

We usually bring two or three lenses with us to our portrait shoots. One of them is going to be our 50mm. It’s a go-to for us and it shoots beautiful photos! We have the f/1.4 so it’s perfect for a great depth-of-field and works for any session that we have.

Another one of our go-to lenses is going to be the 85mm. The compression on this lens is absolutely beautiful. This one is perfect for bridal portraits but depending on the shoot, we’ll use it for other portraits as well, like senior portraits and engagements. We don’t typically use it for family portraits but we still like to carry it just in case.

Other lenses that we might bring are going to be our 28mm and possibly the 16-28mm, depending on the group that we’re shooting. If there is a large group, we’re going to want to carry as wide of a lens that we can have.

Hold Fast Straps

Another thing that we’re going to have in our bag is going to be our camera straps. We use the Money Maker Solo and the Money Maker. The Money Maker is a dual camera strap for anyone who might want to shoot on two cameras. We don’t use this one as often because it’s not always necessary but we like to carry it just in case!

Case

It would be pointless to have all this portrait session gear, but nothing to carry it in! All of our gear goes in a case, which we call the “Baby Nuk.” It’s a Nanuk but we like to shorten it for convenience. The reason it’s called the Baby Nuk is because we have a larger one that we take with us for weddings called the “Nuk.”

Diffuser

We like to have our light diffuser with us as well. We use this if the sun is super harsh or if we have to bounce light back to our subject. Ours is a pretty inexpensive one we got from Amazon. We always bring two with us just to be safe.

Pop-up Tent

Sometimes we bring our pop-up tent, which we use so our subjects can change if they need to. It folds up similar to the way our diffusers do so it’s convenient to have if there isn’t a bathroom available.

Fold-Up Wagon

The last thing that we have is going to be a little fold-up wagon. We can put our portrait session gear in it and if the subject has props or anything like that, we can help tote that around.

Interested in what a portrait session looks like at Three Twenty Studio? Take a peek behind the scenes of an engagement session and for more tips, be sure to subscribe on YouTube!