DIY Reflector

20” by 30” white foam core boards make excellent photography reflectors. They are available at stationary stores for three or four dollars each. There are any number of commercially available units to hold these foam core boards. But a quick DIY holder can be made from an old clip board and a spigot.

I drilled a ¼” hole about 3” up and center of the clip board. I mounted a spigot to the clip board with a ¼ - 20 bolt.

Mount the clip board in an umbrella bracket.

The clip board will hold the foam core board in a vertical or horizontal position.

Spring paper clip to the rescue.

This is a trick that a Facebook friend showed to me. Basically, there are two types of umbrella brackets. One type has a set screw that holds the umbrella in place. The other type has a metal spring that holds the umbrella in place. The set screw type will hold the umbrella solidly in place but will sometimes crush the umbrella shaft if it is hollow. The metal spring type will not always hole the umbrella solidly in place.

My Facebook friend applies two spring paper clips to the umbrella shaft before and after the umbrella bracket spring.

It works well on the new Godox S-2 bracket for holding a brolley solidly in place.