What on earth is a grip arm - and why you need one in your photo studio set-up?

If there’s one area of photography I could improve upon, it’s studio photography, so I jumped at the chance to watch Adorama and Gavin Hoey’s ‘3 Smart Ways to Use Grip Arms in Photography’. What’s a grip arm? I hear you say. Well, as Gavin points out, a grip arm – sometimes misidentified as a boom arm – is an extendable rod with a grip that can be used to position lighting, modifiers, flags, and generally acts as a very useful bit of lighting kit.

3 Smart Ways to Use Grip Arms in a Photography Studio with Gavin Hoey - YouTube

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Above: watch Gavin Hoey demonstrate how he uses grip arms in his photo studio

Gavin’s first tip is to use a grip arm to extend the height of a lighting stand. Pretty simple stuff, but essential if you’re using shorter lighting stands. His next tip is to use the grip arm to 'boom' a light outwards, and what I like about this section is that he takes the time to talk about the proper way to do this safely. As a photographer, you’ve got a responsibility to keep everybody in your studio safe. And while photo studios aren’t inherently dangerous, you do need to be mindful of potential areas of concern, such as trip hazards and falling lights.

When using a grip arm as a boom, you need to be particularly wary of the latter, which can cause the light stand to become top-heavy. As such, Gavin explains that the grip arm should be boomed over a C stand’s longest leg or any leg on a more traditional stand with equal leg lengths. He then drapes a small sandbag over the top of the leg in question to provide extra stability.

To find out more of Gavin’s tips for using a grip arm, as well as some very useful insights on how to use sandbags, make sure you watch the rest of the video. You even get a fantastic, creative portrait project that you can try at home at the end.

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