It doesn’t matter what you do for a living, proper safety is key to preventing injuries. It’s no surprise that even photographers utilize proper safety measures to keep both people and their equipment from coming to harm. To help ensure proper light stand safety practices, David Bergman created this helpful video on correct light stand etiquette when working on set:
Use Preventive Measures to Eliminate Falls
No matter what kind of light stand you use, safety should always be your number one goal. Falling is one of the leading causes of injury to both equipment and people. To prevent your legs from tipping over, always make sure one of the legs is positioned right underneath the light. It should be facing the same direction as the light. You can also use a well positioned sandbag to keep your stand from falling over.
On a C Stand, the big leg (highest one) should always be the one under the weight.
Properly Position Your Stands
Many photographers use an arm to position their lights, and they most likely attach it using a head. The trick to ensuring a safe head grip is to position the head right behind the light with it facing the same direction. The big knuckle should be placed on the right side. This way, if the weight of the light pushes down during your shoot it will tighten the grip, not loosen it (which will also prevent it from falling).
Place the big knuckle on the right side.
Cover Your Boom Arm
Typically, the other side of the head has a boom arm sticking straight out. Naturally, this makes it very easy to walk into by accident. To prevent someone from poking their eye out, always place something relatively soft (like a a tennis ball or a water bottle) on the end. This will also help to make it stand out and keep people from running into it.
Always cover your boom arm with something soft.
Thankfully, customary light stand protocol is fairly simple. In fact, you can even sum up a good portion of it using three simple safety tips. So keep your equipment (and those around you) safe by remembering to properly position your stands, use preventative measures to eliminate falls, and cover your boom arm with something soft.
What light stand protocols do you practice? Do you have any additional safety tips?
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