Using a beauty dish - help/how ?

[gothgirl]

I wanted some advice on using beauty dishes...

I'm in the middle of going through my photography gear to try and clear some space by getting rid of things I haven't yet or will ever use

And I found this , I haven't used it yet, it was kindly gifted to me by a member on here with some lights

I use the lights frequently but never got round to using this , partly because I'm not sure how to....

It's a photax white interfit 45cm

How is it used and what effects does it create?


I would never sell it as it was gifted to me , but if it's something I won't use with my photography I might like to trade it for something I will use

However if I can figure out how and what it does , I might find a use for it

 

[mike weeks]

Have a look at this http://www.lencarta.com/studio-lighting-blog/08/tutorial-lighting-a-sexy-woman-using-a-beauty-dish/

Mike

 

[simonbarker]

How is it used and what effects does it create?

Consider the shape of the reflector, it's basically a big dish with a cover in the middle, which should help accentuate the features while avoiding a hot spot in the middle of their face.

As I understand it anyway.

 

[Phil V]

...
Rowena, gridded BD Safari2

...

It does this.

More precisely, if your subject is female and doesn't look as good as Rowena, don't point a BD at her. They do accentuate the bad points ((wrinkles, skin imperfections etc) whilst they're brilliant at showing great bone structure, with an older bloke that means they show 'character'

 

[gothgirl]

I'm wondering if this might be very helpful in photographing the dogs I shoot a lot?

I shoot a lot of brachycephelic dogs
(flat faced , think pug/bulldog)

And one of the major pains of shooting squashy dogs is losing details in the wrinkled flat face , especially in jet black dogs.

What might be a downside in people
(highlighting every flaw)
Might be an upside for my dogs
(showing the detail that is otherwise lost )

What do you think guys ?

 

[Garry Edwards]

I'm wondering if this might be very helpful in photographing the dogs I shoot a lot?

I shoot a lot of brachycephelic dogs
(flat faced , think pug/bulldog)

And one of the major pains of shooting squashy dogs is losing details in the wrinkled flat face , especially in jet black dogs.

What might be a downside in people
(highlighting every flaw)
Might be an upside for my dogs
(showing the detail that is otherwise lost )

What do you think guys ?

Yes, that should work fine - in theory.
But the beauty dish really needs to be exactly in front (and above of) where the subject is looking, to get the symmetry right, i.e. the shadows need to be symetrical, that's easy enough with a human model, I just stick a target on the front of the beauty dish and ask her to keep her face pointing straight at it as she moves around - but can you get a dog to cooperate in that way without running out of bits of liver?

 

[Phil V]

Yes, that should work fine - in theory.
But the beauty dish really needs to be exactly in front (and above of) where the subject is looking, to get the symmetry right, i.e. the shadows need to be symetrical, that's easy enough with a human model, I just stick a target on the front of the beauty dish and ask her to keep her face pointing straight at it as she moves around - but can you get a dog to cooperate in that way without running out of bits of liver?

What he said. ^
But definitely worth a try.

 

[gothgirl]

I probably could actually , my dogs are models for a few different companies so they're used to posing