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Beauty Dish - Best Practices
Just picked up a beauty dish and was wondering if folks would be willing to offer any tips how to best employ it. Up to now I've used soft boxes and umbrellas but now I want to bring the dish into the mix. Any tips on angles, distances or unusual set ups that you've had good success with? Thanks in advance! Jan 09 08 08:39 am Link Same question here. My one session with my new dish worked well with the dish near me at about camera height pointed fairly straight on to the model. Maybe 30 degree angle from the model's perspective between camera and beauty dish. Seemed to work well. I love it when dumb luck happens ! But don't suppose I should depend on luck ... Jan 09 08 08:48 am Link Photographed with Speedotron beauty dish and 2403B power pack @ 400 w/s. About 4 ft. from the model, about 2-3 ft. higher than head-height, and angled slightly downward toward her. She was seated on a wooden stool.  Image #2 - Same set up, although model was standing.  Jan 09 08 08:53 am Link Life Is Great Images wrote: Thanks! Like you I love playing around with angles and different positions but I'd like to know some sure fire set ups to fall back on just in case. Jan 09 08 08:54 am Link Up high over head pointing down from an angle is the best, and a light on the other side with an umbrella helps give you a fill if you want better than a bounce card, and helps keep the look of the dish.. JOHN Jan 09 08 09:32 am Link ward wrote: Thanks! Jan 09 08 09:46 am Link RWhite Photography wrote: You're welcome Jan 09 08 09:46 am Link JIC Photography wrote: Thanks! It seems a standard setup with the dish is a few feet higher than the model angled down with fill from the side via a softbox, etc. Jan 09 08 09:47 am Link Does anyone know of a beauty dish that they make for Novatron? Jan 09 08 09:48 am Link Point Of View wrote: Nope, sorry I've got Bees's. Someone will chime in I'm sure. Jan 09 08 09:52 am Link 17" dish modified for my lighting mount (AB) - metered at f11, above the model by 4 feet or so, and slightly to the right. There are more lights on this obviously - but the main was the dish.  Same, but lower and 22" mola dish...  One thing I learned is to pay attention on how the light falls on the face as to avoid longer shadows than necessary. I like depth, but not long shadows. I like the smaller dish as it is more intense. Not as soft as the larger ones. So I use a small 17" generic often. I play with the angle a bit before shooting... I love the dish... its my favourite modifier... RM Jan 09 08 09:56 am Link Shot with beauty dish, just above and to the side.  Jan 09 08 09:59 am Link Ramses Moya wrote: Beautiful shots! Thanks for the info!! Jan 09 08 10:07 am Link JDavid wrote: Excellant work! Thanks! Jan 09 08 10:08 am Link I just got dish for Christmas and I haven't got to use it during a shoot yet. Thanks for the tips! I'm looking forward to seeing what I can do with it. Jan 09 08 10:12 am Link ward wrote: I love these samples/results. I shall make my beauty dish useful now! Jan 09 08 10:13 am Link Try and over and under technique. Place a strip box or a medium soft box on the floor at 1 stop less than the beauty dish above. Make sure both lights are even on the vertical approach so you have both catch lights in the eyes nice and even. It's a fun little way of shooting and the results are nice. The model can move freely and be prepared to simply shoot. J T Jan 09 08 10:19 am Link Tony Yang wrote:
Jan 09 08 10:20 am Link This was shot with a beauty dish, just above subject and just a tad to camera left.  Jan 09 08 10:21 am Link jtsmith wrote: Interesting! It's in my notebook and Thanks! Jan 09 08 10:25 am Link JDavid wrote: Beautiful! I'm doing a couple shoot later this month and this will help. Thanks! Jan 09 08 10:26 am Link jtsmith wrote: Agree with J T... This shot is exactly that... strip on the floor, aimed upwards towards model providing fill and beauty above... used the 17" and aimed it so I would get the halo behind her which is the focal point of the dish... Jan 09 08 10:26 am Link Ramses Moya wrote: WoW, all this input has really got me excited! Thanks ever so much! Jan 09 08 10:34 am Link RWhite Photography wrote: np... that is why we are here... to share... Otherwise computer would be off and I would be home sleeping... Jan 09 08 10:49 am Link ward wrote: these are very nice images! Jan 09 08 11:17 am Link This is good information. I really need to try more things with my lighting. Jan 09 08 11:23 am Link geyes wrote: Thank you. Jan 09 08 11:24 am Link I made my own beauty dish from a satellite dish that a TV company threw away. The hold in the center fit over my speedotron head perfectly so I cut a normal reflector off and had a metal guy weld it with brackets to the back of the dish. It measures abut 3 feet wide. I then used a large sheet of vellum to cover the dish, but with trial and error I discovered a hot spot dead center, so I cut a piece of white foamcore about 8 inches in diameter and taped it dead center on the vellum which solved the problem. This is what you get with a homemade dish, plus a backlight or hairlight added. Beauty dishes are nice, but they give very flat, almost two dimensional lighting so adding another light helps out to give the shot more dimension.  Jan 09 08 12:20 pm Link I just got a beauty dish, too. It seems to be the current rage. I'd like to get a grid for it but a speedotron 22" grid is about $150 (I have a P. Buff dish). I was at Buff's yesterday and was told that they are considering making a grid for their dish. I hope I can hold out.... One of my first attempts: The beauty dish was a little to camera left, above the model. I had a gridded softbox behind her, camera right, and a gridded light on the background.  Jan 09 08 12:29 pm Link Now if someone can put one in a box and mail it to me ... *tee hee* Great lighting tips folks! Jan 09 08 12:30 pm Link Does anyone have a link to where I can get the speedotron beauty dish? Thanks, Bernadette Jan 09 08 02:29 pm Link I love the beauty dish! Check out some of Mr. Sean Armenta's work on the beach....those were lit with the 22" Speedo. beauty dish. I don't know if he used the 35-deg honey comb grid. All of my simple beauty headshots were front lit with my 22" speedo. dish. I love it!  There is a rule of thumb to place the dish at the max. distance equal to its diameter to get that "beauty dish" quality of light. --Ron www.ronaldntan.com Jan 09 08 03:07 pm Link http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1 … r_Kit.html That's the exact one I have. Bernadette Mizrahi wrote: Jan 09 08 03:09 pm Link Also check out other MM threads on Beauty dishes: * Examples with a Beautydish (Many examples) * How do you use your Beauty Dish? * Beauty dish placement - advice please ("Sweet spot") * Any suggestions on a beauty dish? * The BIg Mola Beauty Dish- Is it worth using it? * Beauty Dish (47+ posts) * Beauty Dish (40+ posts) * Beauty Dish Comparison * beauty dishes * Beauty Dishes & Grids See the Lighting, Flash, Ring, & Battery Strobe Reference thread for links to other articles and discussions Jan 09 08 04:05 pm Link Kevin Connery wrote: Thanks for the additional links! I assumed this topic had been discussed before but I couldn't find them. Jan 09 08 04:53 pm Link Kevin Connery wrote: Well this is FAR batter than the usual "do a search, dimwit" comment. I need to play with mine more and will look into these. The Mola site has lovely image samples, but sadly doesn't specify which size dish was used for which shot..... Jan 09 08 05:57 pm Link The speedo grid is a steal at $150 and works on most any 22" dish. But I'm a grid freak, shooting in a smallish space where light spill is deadly. Jan 09 08 06:01 pm Link |
