Steady as she goes

Dan Mold explains why a 'plamp' should be your next accessory for your kit bag if you're interested in macro and still life photography

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If you’ve ever tried to photograph a delicate plant outdoors you’ll know that it’s trickier than it seems, especially when working in windy conditions – flowery focal points are prone to being blown about!

A ‘plamp’, such as The Plamp II from Wimberley, is a clever device that has a large anchoring clamp at one end and a small clamp clip with soft foam jaws at the other to hold a fragile subject such as a flower stem steady. Between the two grippers there’s a long articulating arm made of ball and socket joints which allow you to bend it into position to hold a plant stem, reflector or LED light steady.

Plamps are handy for all sorts of photoshoots, but they really shine in macro work, especially outdoors when a breeze might caused blurry results. Even small movements are exaggerated when shooting close-up so a plamp helps to keep everything absolutely still. You can even set up a second plamp to hold accessories or a background and position it so that the light is falling exactly where you need it to. They’re also fantastic for still life and studio shoots such as product photography where you need a finer level of control.

This month we got hold of a hoard of plamp products from Wimberley that you may not have come across before so you can see how they may be beneficial to your photography, and which items deserve to be added to your equipment wishlish. Let’s take a closer look at them...

THE SETUP USING PLAMPS AND ACCESSORIES
Get to grips with the different types of plamps and the optional extras available