Clamps for Product and Food Photography

Ed Rudolph is back again to show us his favorite clamps and gizmos when shooting product and food photography! Let’s dive right into it!

“A” or Spring Clamp

These are great for holding small things and come in a variety of shapes and sizes. You can use it to stand up mirrors to reflect the light on an object.

Wimberly PP-200 Plamp II

This will clamp on to your table and allow you to hold things into a shot from a higher distance. You can move it around with ease to adjust the fill card as needed.

Bar Clamp

These are available at any hardware store. These can open up to any size to accommodate small and large objects. By hooking it to a c-stand arm you can hold it into a shot without having to hold it yourself.

Wood Building Blocks

We use kids wood building blocks to mark the spots for plates. These may seem silly, but they come in handy. My personal favorite is the one with a semi-circle cut out the shape. This allows me to have two points of contact for my plate, so when I take it away and bring it back into the shot, I can place right back in the same spot. These wood blocks are also useful if you want to lean a fill card on it.

MAG-MATE 990FLXCLP – Round Steel Base Plate with a Bendy Arm

This is a bendy army that you can get from the hardware store and it connects to this metal piece I got from a scrap metal yard that functions as a weight as well.

You can use it to hold up anything in your shot especially if you want to have a fill card coming it over the top. These are really handy because they are also weighted which allows them to not fall over.

Mafer Clamp

The clamp can hold a variety of things. This clamp fits easily into a c-stand to hold something heavier. It’s great for holding lights on stands or a tripod leg.

L or Corner Bracket

This bracket can be used to hold up mirrors or fill cards. You simply tape the bracket to any surface and use it as a stand. It’s a subtle way to create a highlight or block out any unwanted background.

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Cardellini Clamp

Another way we secure larger fill cards or backdrops is using the Cardellini clamp. They come in smaller sizes as well as larger clamps to hold up heavier items.

At first glance, the Mafer and Cardellini clamps look very similar, but you can see the Cardellini can open its mouth a lot wider. As you can see, we can clamp onto this beer bottle and let’s say I want to do a shot where I’m pouring beer into a glass. If I want to make sure that the bottle is going to be in the same place for every shot. Simply by slipping the clamp into the c-stand knuckle, you can set it properly.

Duck Bill or “Quacker” Clamp

When we are on set and we need to use a larger fill card to soften the shadows for an image, we can attach the clamp to it and connect it to a c-stand. Not only will it hold it, but also we know it will stay in the same position all the time and won’t get knocked over. Since it’s connected to the c-stand, it’s easy to lift it up if we don’t want it to be in a shot or even angle it.

That’s all the clamps we have for today! If you are interested in learning more about The Art of Food Photography, you can purchase our online course download here.