Photography starter kit must have's

     Okay so now that you have your fancy -fresh new DLSR now you have to start thinking about what is going to really make your pictures stand apart from someone else. I was in that position myself. Here's a list of items that I have purchased to get me going. I used Amazon.com to keep my costs down. For example: If I were to buy the Garry Fong diffuser at a local store, I'd pay about 20 bucks. On amazon I'd pay about 10 dollars less with shipping.  So, here's my list:

Opteka LP-E8 2000mAh Ultra High Capacity Li-ion Battery Pack for Canon Digital Rebel T2i Digital SLR Camera (Electronics) I really don't see any huge difference between this battery and the more expensive canon battery that came with my Canon T3i (600D). If you are using this battery as a backup then you'll love it. Basically it gives me enough time to charge the Canon battery. At some point i figure I'll invest in a battery grip. For now, this is good for me.
Cheaplights NPT-04 Wireless Speedlight Trigger (Electronics) from the moment I took this thing out of the box it worked like a charm. All I had to do was turn my flash on--- press that little button on top and the flash would fire. It is a little puzzling to me because there is no where to put batteries on the Speedlight trigger. I worry only because I fear that one day it'll just die on me and i won't have any backup. but for now it works great. I'm learning to embrace flash photography & with this little guy added to the wireless receiver i have, I hope to have a lot of fun. Now I just need a couple of more flashes.
Op/Tech 18" SLR Rainsleeve for Digital & Film Cameras with Lenses up to 7" Diameter, 18" Long (Electronics) I love taking pictures of weather, the outdoors etc. But I don't like that my camera is not rain/weather resistant. maybe one day I'll upgrade to the 1dx, but for now I'm protecting my investment. This is Rain sleeve is a good way to protect your investment. When i saw it online I imagined that the rain sleeve was going to be smaller more form fitting, but the rain sleeve is huge IMHO... but not in a bad way. There's plenty of room if you have one of those super-telephoto lenses. It's kind of awkward if you only have a 50mm... but the drawstring on the end of the rain sleeve does the job. It keeps everything sealed in and dry. I've used it once so far. When I was searching for weather protection I was looking at some of the other rain sleeves that allow you to put both hands on the camera and have an area for you to lock in your tripod. Again IMHO, ... that's not all needed for the average street photographer. I just stuck my hand up the sleeve got a real good grip on my camera and was very comfortable walking around trusting that my camera was dry. On the other hand because the rain sleeve is so big, I can't imagine having any problems using a tripod with this product. i also can't see spending much more on protection for a camera unless you are going deep sea diving.
Gary Fong Puffer Pop Up Flash Diffuser (Electronics) Let Me just explain why I bought this diffuser. I recently bought a Canon 600D (T3i.) I was hoping to be able to use a flash that I had been using with an older model SLR canon (yes an old 35mm film camera). I soon found out that hooking it up to my new camera would make the flash work, it wasn't necessarily any better than the pop-up flash that came with the camera. This is a much better option... One tip for you newby photographers out there. If you hate the pre-flash tests that the camera goes through before taking the picture, use the * button to lock in that flash exposure for the next picture and for pictures to come. You'll be able to take more pictures consecutively. The Gary Fong puffer diffuser gets rid of all that nasty-ness that using a flash creates in low light situations and makes using it as a fill-light a dream. By the way I'm one of those photographers that will do all he can to try and take a picture using the light that is available before leaning on a flash for help... unless it's a studio photoshoot. This makes it easier for me to lean on a flash.