Strobist beauty dish

Lazlo Woodbine

Lazlo Woodbine

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Just ordered this neat looking strobist beauty dish from ebay.

People certainly seem to be getting good results with it judging by the internet searches I've done. My only concern is that it's a little on the small side at 14". I haven't had much experience with beauty dishes but looking forward to giving this a go. Will post some results once it arrives!
 
Wow that looks a lot easier to carry around for use in outdoor situations than a soft box!
 
By the way did you go for silver or white?
 
Does the full weight of the dish hang off the flash?
 
According to the reviews I read, yes. Apparently it is very light though.
 
dubcat said:
By the way did you go for silver or white?
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I went for white on the thinking that it would be softer and warmer.

dubcat said:
Wow that looks a lot easier to carry around for use in outdoor situations than a soft box!
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That's why I went for it instead of a bracket and an s-stype Bowens dish. Maybe that would have been a better option but I'm nothing if not lazy. I really like how easy these look to set up.

SparkUK said:
Does the full weight of the dish hang off the flash?
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Dubcat is right. They're apparently extremely light. Hopefully that doesn't mean fragile.

Flash In The Pan said:
Aren't those the ones the guy makes at home, out of plastic bowls?
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No idea what he makes them out of. You're probably right though. Well I'd probably have never gotten around to it anyway if I'd decided to make one myself.
 
I wouldn't call that a beauty dish in the true sense, it's just too small.

But 14in across is a vast improvement on direct flash. It will deliver light similar to a (very) small umbrella or a (very) small softbox, but with nice round catchlights albeit with a dark spot in the middle.

About as big as you can get away with fitted directly to the flash head (size/weight) and should look nice if used close when the size becomes effectively bigger in relation to the subject.
 
HoppyUK said:
I wouldn't call that a beauty dish in the true sense, it's just too small.

But 14in across is a vast improvement on direct flash. It will deliver light similar to a (very) small umbrella or a (very) small softbox, but with nice round catchlights albeit with a dark spot in the middle.

About as big as you can get away with fitted directly to the flash head (size/weight) and should look nice if used close when the size becomes effectively bigger in relation to the subject.
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Yeah, I agree it's a little on the small side but a fair bit better than the Strobies beauty dish/reflector which is the only similar thing I've seen available. Looking at the Flickr group I'm pretty impressed with the results people have been getting.

I especially like the round catchlights as you mention.
 
Lazlo Woodbine said:
Yeah, I agree it's a little on the small side but a fair bit better than the Strobies beauty dish/reflector which is the only similar thing I've seen available. Looking at the Flickr group I'm pretty impressed with the results people have been getting.

I especially like the round catchlights as you mention.
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Easy peezy to white-out the dark centre spot in post :thumbs:
 
Ha! Those both look pretty nice. At that price even I may have been tempted to make something myself though.
 
Lazlo Woodbine said:
Ha! Those both look pretty nice. At that price even I may have been tempted to make something myself though.
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That's how the Damian McGillicuddy one came about! Damian is a bit of a lighting genius and he could not find one that lit the way he wanted to. (This one produces quite a bit of contrast) so he went and made one himself. He showed it to people who came to him to learn lighting and ended up having to have them made so it became a commercial product.
 
AliB said:
That's how the Damian McGillicuddy one came about! Damian is a bit of a lighting genius and he could not find one that lit the way he wanted to. (This one produces quite a bit of contrast) so he went and made one himself. He showed it to people who came to him to learn lighting and ended up having to have them made so it became a commercial product.
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It does look the bee's knees. Are you planning on getting one yourself?

His workshops looks pretty good too. I'm quite tempted by a couple of them.
 
A long way off that one as I already have a Bowen's one! I also have a bracket that allow me to use it with a speedlight. It's just a bit bulky in comparison. There is no doubt it's a cracking bit of kit but since it is not my most used accessory it will be a while before I spend anything adding to it :)

Damian is a good bloke and a great laugh, very passionate about what he does and yes I'd be tempted too but a lot of my work kind of falls through gaps at the moment. If I was doing more studio stuff, he'd be first on my list because he has probably forgotten more than I ever learned!
 
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Yeah, it's an expensive bit of kit if you're not going to use it regularly.

Unfortunately all his courses seem to be in August which is turning out to be a rather busy month for me, but I'm definitely going to check back to see if he has any more planned. I like the look of the Mini Lights - Max Effect workshop.
 
AliB said:
That's how the Damian McGillicuddy one came about! Damian is a bit of a lighting genius and he could not find one that lit the way he wanted to. (This one produces quite a bit of contrast) so he went and made one himself. He showed it to people who came to him to learn lighting and ended up having to have them made so it became a commercial product.
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This is the basis of my mobile on-camera portrait kit, total cost about £60. If I say so myself, it works superbly well - rather better than these expensive mini-umbrella jobbies IMHO because the light source is bigger.

Starting with this £40 Manfrotto MN233 flash bracket http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-manfrotto-mn233b-camera-flash-bracket/p11017 which is multi-adjustable any which way you like. On top of that goes a brolly adapter for £15 and then a 24in shoot-through umbella for £7. If you want the beauty dish look, swap that for a reverse-firing silver brolly.

I use it for chasing kids about with the umbrella just above and to the left but it works just as well with a silver brolly on-axis. E-TTL sorts out the varying distance/exposure.

It is cumbersome for sure, because it's big, but for an on-camera flash the light is almost studio quality :thumbs:

Edit: you could put a small softbox on it just as easily, but the extra weight would make it hard work.
 
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It looks good for what it is although, as Richard says, it's really too small for many situations. Something this size really needs to be used very close to the subject (strange that of the 3 sample photos on the Ebay listing, only one was a shot close enough to benefit from the beauty dish and then they went and ruined the shot by adding a fill light)

It seems to be plastic but that should be a benefit, as it fits direct to the flashgun.
Please post some pics when you've had a good play...
 
HoppyUK said:
This is the basis of my mobile on-camera portrait kit, total cost about £60. If I say so myself, it works superbly well - rather better than these expensive mini-umbrella jobbies IMHO because the light source is bigger.

Starting with this £40 Manfrotto MN233 flash bracket http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-manfrotto-mn233b-camera-flash-bracket/p11017 which is multi-adjustable any which way you like. On top of that goes a brolly adapter for £15 and then a 24in shoot-through umbella for £7. If you want the beauty dish look, swap that for a reverse-firing silver brolly.

I use it for chasing kids about with the umbrella just above and to the left but it works just as well with a silver brolly on-axis. E-TTL sorts out the varying distance/exposure.

It is cumbersome for sure, because it's big, but for an on-camera flash the light is almost studio quality :thumbs:

Edit: you could put a small softbox on it just as easily, but the extra weight would make it hard work.
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Looks like an excellent system you have going. I hadn't seen any brackets that I've seriously considered buying before you showed me that. One thing at a time though; I'm going to try my new beauty dish first, once it arrives.

Garry Edwards said:
It looks good for what it is although, as Richard says, it's really too small for many situations. Something this size really needs to be used very close to the subject (strange that of the 3 sample photos on the Ebay listing, only one was a shot close enough to benefit from the beauty dish and then they went and ruined the shot by adding a fill light)

It seems to be plastic but that should be a benefit, as it fits direct to the flashgun.
Please post some pics when you've had a good play...
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Luckily there are plenty of more useful shots in the Flickr group.

Will certainly post some of my own once it arrives. I'm hoping it will before a model shoot I have lined up on Wednesday.
 
i bought this one thought it was quite expensive but as it folds completely flat and is very light and strong, thought it had advantages over others, now im totally green on portraits, but i got this with my first try in the living room, (the model (my daughter) didn't want to know so no posing here, just her saying "hurry up" while i took three shots) i would like to know if the results are worthy of the price, please bare in mind i am a total newbie to flash portraits. I did a little skin smoothing, sharpening and desaturation in PP

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That's a handy device! And a great result. Excellent :thumbs:

Purist might say that a beauty dish works best when used on-axis, ie directly above and in front of the model. That's worth a try to get a slighly different look, but I would also leave it at the same angle but move it closer to soften the shadows a bit more. Then add a reflector underneath to lighten the chin shadows. Not necessarily better than you've already got, just a couple of variations to try ;)

She obviously takes after her mother :D
 
Thanks for those tips, when I can convince her to model again I'll try those out, I did put the dish head on first but not above so I realise where I was going wrong there now as it was too low

She definately takes after her mom lol
 
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