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How to Make Your Own Umbrella Light

Umbrella lights are used in photography to produce warm or cool lighting effects, which can create moods within a photograph. To produce these effects, a light aimed at the umbrella surface reflects back onto the subject of the photograph. A gold reflective coating is used in the umbrella light to produce warm lighting, and a silver coating for cool lighting. Warm lighting tends to create an inviting feeling or convey energy and emotion in a photo. Cool lighting, on the other hand, conveys a calmer mood. You can make your own umbrella light using commonly available materials.

Things You'll Need

Small, collapsible umbrella
Reflective spray paint, preferably intended for fabric
Newspaper
Two-holed spark plug wire separator
Tripod
Clamp light
Cutting pliers or hacksaw

Instructions

- 1
  
  Coating the umbrella's underside with metallic paint will make it reflective.
  
  Cover your work space, which should be outdoors or in a well-ventilated area, with newspaper to avoid paint splatter. Open the umbrella and coat its underside with reflective spray paint, but do not saturate. The coat of paint doesn't have to be perfect -- small imperfections will not affect the lighting. Allow the umbrella to dry thoroughly before use, and make sure not to fold it up, since the paint could crack.
- 2
  Screw off the handle of the umbrella or carefully cut the handle off the pole using the cutting pliers or a hacksaw.
- 3
  
  A tripod makes a great stand for an umbrella light because its height is adjustable.
  
  Use the wire separator to attach the pole of the umbrella to the tilt-control handle of the tripod. Do this by inserting the umbrella pole into one hole of the wire separator and the tilt control handle into the other hole. If the poles fit into the separator too loosely, fill the extra space with foam. (If you have a C-stand, you can also attach the umbrella to that rather than the tripod.)
- 4
  Attach the clamp light to the top of the umbrella pole facing the painted underside of the umbrella. Angle the umbrella light so that the light is reflected from the umbrella back onto the subject of the photograph. (The lamp should point away from the subject, and the reflective side of the umbrella should face the subject). The angle can be changed or additional lighting added to alter or diminish the appearance of shadows. Experiment with different angles to discover different effects.

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