Professional Photography Equipment - Lighting modification equipment (stuff) to stick on the C-stands

Well, the post about the c-stands went over so well that I thought I’d spend a little more time telling you about the “stuff” I put on the ends of the arms and tell you a little more about how the stands are used.  Like I said…  I use these stands all the time and there are often times that I actually run out of them.  I use them mostly to hold mirrors, but there are other things I use them for.  Here are a few pictures from shoots that show some of the uses of the stands and arms.

Here you have a simple pizza shot.  I count about a dozen C-stands in the shot, more are probably out of the frame.  They are holding everything from plastic leaves (dapples), the canvas background, multiple mirrors, clamps, flags, scrims, and even a light.

More of the same...

See how the stands line up so nicely. This is usually how I store them between shots. Notice the different sizes. The blue tape means that they are mine. Just in case I loan them to a friend. Makes them easy to tell apart.

Here's a close-up of how they hold my mirrors. Later in the week, I'm going to tell you how I make the mirrors.

Another mirror...

The arms and stands are strong enough to use as a boom to suspend light boxes that hang out over the set, but they can't support the weight without tipping over unless you use sandbags to stabilize them.

This is a scrim. It is used to cut down the intensity of a light without changing the characteristics of the light. Sort of like an ND filter. More about this tool on a later post.

Here, a clamp holds up the background.

And here's a very important device that I should probably patent. It goes on the end of the arm when it ends up being used at head level. I call it the "Eye poker-outter prevention" device. Don't laugh, it works. :+)