The Many (Many) Uses Of Gaffer Tape In Photography

Ask any pro photographer or videographer and he/she will tell you that Gaffer tape is one of those things that you simply can do without. On this Adorama video, photographer David Bergman takes a quick look at some of the uses he found for Gaffer tape in his work.

Gaffer tape is very special – it is strong but you can tare it well (sometimes with your hands but for the most part with a knife or a pair of scissors. It can hold for a long time, stick to many types of surfaces but typically will not leave a residue (or at least not that much).

Maybe the most common use in productions of all types is to tape down gaffer tape to the floor to fix wires (so you won’t trip on them), but there are many other uses as well. One good example is to hold gels with gaffer tape to your flash or light (if this is a hot light be careful as the glue can melt.

If you are using white gaffer type – you can write on it and make notes on stuff – this is also a good way to tell other people that this is your stuff (you can also put colored gaffer tape on your cameras and lenses.

Here is one tip from us – you don’t have to carry a large roll of gaffer tape anywhere – you can cut a piece and roll it over a pen and in this way you will still have some gaffer tape but without the huge roll.

A few years back we wrote about the GaffGun – which is an interesting invention for people who are looking to use long starches of gaffer tape on cables.

You can check out many more helpful photography tips on our Photography tips section here on LensVid.

Iddo Genuth

Iddo Genuth is the founder and chief editor of LensVid.com. He has been a technology reporter working for international publications since the late 1990's and covering photography since 2009. Iddo is also a co-founder of a production company specializing in commercial food and product visual content.