Beauty Dish - worth getting one?

cambsno

cambsno

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These are very expensive (for their size) and not nearly large enough to produce the real 'beauty dish' effect.
 
Beauty lights need to be big. It's their size which makes the light soft and 'beautiful'.

Cheapest/easiest way is to take the flash off camera and fire it through a translucent umbrella. See the stuff that Flash In The Pan has got in the For Sale section :thumbs:
 
difficult to answer as beauty dishes give a very specific light, hard with soft edges. on camera this would look dreadful. On a stand high left or right it would work well as a key light, but would probably need another light as fill.

If you are looking at off camera stuff it might be worth learning the more basic mods first
 
For portraits beauty dishes are best used on or near the camera axis and above the lens - mine is 70cm diameter.
 
awp said:
For portraits beauty dishes are best used on or near the camera axis and above the lens - mine is 70cm diameter.
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im not sure i totally agree, that is ok for a specific type of lighting effect, similar to that of a ringflash, few shadows on the face and wrap around effect. i use my 70cm beauty dish off axis, not above the lens as it produces lovely shadows to define facial features.

depends on desired effect:shrug:
 
Going a bit off topic here because I totally agree that beauty dishes need to be big to produce the real beauty dish effect, and the question is about tiny ones that fit onto hotshoe flashes.

What beauty dishes actually do is to create shadows - or modelling if you prefer the term - that define and shape the face. Therefore, they are an excellent portrait tool for the right shape of face, with good skin and high cheekbones. Good skin (or extensive retouching) is essential because the shadows show every fault.

I find them easier to use than softboxes and I use them a lot for still life subjects too - they are incredibly versatile.

Read these 2 articles, one by the famous Marc Gouguenheim and one by the infamous Garry Edwards

For portraits beauty dishes are best used on or near the camera axis and above the lens - mine is 70cm diameter.
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I find that they work best when on axis with the model, obviously if the model is looking straight at camera then that's the same thing as being on axis with the camera, but if the model is at an angle then it isn't. In other words, the model should be pointing her face directly at the beauty dish. Again, see the articles, there is an example of the model looking straight at camera and another with her looking straight at the beauty dish in my article
 
Garry Edwards said:
Going a bit off topic here because I totally agree that beauty dishes need to be big to produce the real beauty dish effect, and the question is about tiny ones that fit onto hotshoe flashes.

What beauty dishes actually do is to create shadows - or modelling if you prefer the term - that define and shape the face. Therefore, they are an excellent portrait tool for the right shape of face, with good skin and high cheekbones. Good skin (or extensive retouching) is essential because the shadows show every fault.

I find them easier to use than softboxes and I use them a lot for still life subjects too - they are incredibly versatile.

Read these 2 articles, one by the famous Marc Gouguenheim and one by the infamous Garry Edwards


I find that they work best when on axis with the model, obviously if the model is looking straight at camera then that's the same thing as being on axis with the camera, but if the model is at an angle then it isn't. In other words, the model should be pointing her face directly at the beauty dish. Again, see the articles, there is an example of the model looking straight at camera and another with her looking straight at the beauty dish in my article
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Hey Garry I too live in Bradford, currently setting up my own home studio in my garage, would love to pick your brains on a couple of things regarding the home set-up sometime. Also whats the waiting time on the safari pack? Sorry off-topic.
 
khani said:
Hey Garry I too live in Bradford, currently setting up my own home studio in my garage, would love to pick your brains on a couple of things regarding the home set-up sometime. Also whats the waiting time on the safari pack? Sorry off-topic.
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I'm away at the moment, back in a couple of weeks or so, you're welcome to ring me or come round by arrangement once I'm back.
Safari Heads should be back in stock within 2 weeks
 
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