Shooting with the Beauty Dish

Written By: dave.davis on June 9, 2009 26 Comments

tiera_5481-copy I’m asked all of the time how I get that beautiful “glow” in Photoshop, I wish… I haven’t figured that one out yet, I use a special light modifier called the Beauty Dish. Mine is available from Alien Bees. There are several on the market today from various suppliers and studio equipment manufacturers. I have even seen a few DIY home built versions that produce marvelous results. For my use I wanted a proven engineered design. I already had invested heavily in Alien Bee studio equipment, so my decision was simple. For those who want to ignore all of the intricacies of mastering this awe inspiring device as described below; the secret is to use feathered light from the edge of the Beauty Dish and not from the center of the directly focused beam.

The Beauty Dish was developed and intended to be used as a portrait light modifier. It has quickly been recognized within the Makeup industry and adopted as a staple light source. The Beauty Dish has a “sweet spot” and I must admit it is very difficult to learn and master. I have been using a Beauty Dish for over four years now and I am just starting to duplicate the results on a consistent basis. Your models will quickly become spoiled by the flattering “tan” effect the light yields when aimed properly. Most of my muse models will not shoot with me if I leave the Beauty Dish at home. LOL

I majored in photography back in the old days. We worked with large format cameras and relied on the Zone System for all of our exposures and that is the direction this article is taking. I realize exposure control is new to many of you and cause for confusion, with today’s “Automatic or Point & Shoot” cameras. I would suggest understand Depth of Field, Shutter Speeds, or your lens Sweet Spot, research it and try to learn as much as possible.

lighting-tutorail_tiera In my initial setup I started with the Beauty Dish 10′ above her and the center aimed about a foot or so beyond her right hand. The shadows were too harsh on her right side so I added the Stripbox 4′ above and to the right.

The Alien Bee Beauty Dish. (Image stolen from the Alien Bee website) pictured above is essential to my work!

dani_3up

In the First Photo above. I feather the light in front of my model. The In the center example, you can get a better prospective of the camera’s view. In the far Left shot. I wanted the depth and shadows to produce more dynamic effects so I broke the golden rule “Never let light from your main spill onto the backdrop.” I had Danielle turn and face the wall then look back over her shoulder for this shot.
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This would be more typical of my commercial lighting setup. To simplify this scenario, the Main/Beauty Dish is represented in blue and my focused Edge light is represented in red. The heavy edge light is my signature shot and I’m quite fond of. I used the two lights at 180 degrees of my model Vanessa. I purposely broke the rule regarding over spill on the background to assist in the separation of my model, which you can just barely see the faint background on right. Then used a harsh edge light to separate the shadowed side of my model (as shown below).

I posed my model about 10′ off the backdrop and both lights are at eye level – about 8′ away from the model.

My prime lenses have a sweet spot of f-11 but I also like the added depth and saturation when I shoot one stop under. Using a Sekonic 550 Flash/Spot meter I setup my main at f-11 (the Beauty Dish) I usually start with it at about 10 feet away from my model/object. My shooting style requires the depth, but keep in mind the key goal here is to obtain that inner glow and deep rich skin tone qualities that my models and I love so much.

Lighting Equipment In General: Coming from the old school mentality, I bought as much light as I could afford at the time. When replacing my old Dyna-Light setup I purchased six Alien Bees 1600 and two Alien Bee 800’s. I like to think when I use the mono-lights outdoors I can over power the sun. I’m delighted with the Bees and have no doubt they will out live me. The recycle time on the 1600’s on the little slower, but I’m not a Click, Click, Clicker Boy and an 8 second pause between each shot is no issue with me.

The Stripbox: Throughout this article, you have heard me mention my love and enthusiasm for the Strip Box. I really love these narrow softboxes. Several years ago I bought two 9″ X 35″ and two 13″ x 54″ softboxes from e-Bay for $75.00. The company is long gone and so is the killer price, but many companies offers these innovative softboxes. Pictured left from Alien Bees. I fell in love with the concept at first sight. I mean the idea of lighting only the model and not all of the surrounding area makes perfect sense.

Hope this helps!

~Dave

This article has been updated on my personal Blog

Be sure to checkout my review of e-Photo’s new 16″ Beauty Dish, designed especially for Strobist. HERE

~ Dave

© Copyright 2008 David Davis, All Rights Reserved. David Davis, AKA Dave Davis Photography, Dr Dave’s Graphics, is providing information and services on the World Wide Web for educational purposes only. Permission to use, copy and/or distribute documents, text and/or graphics from this World Wide Web server is Prohibited under Federal Law.

About dave.davis: I'm a Northern California Professional Photographer, based just outside San Francisco California. I specialize in commercial product advertizing and architectural. I have been working with Bay Area modeling agencies for more then 10 years, shooting portfolio development for models and high-end makeup artists. I am highly creative and always unique. I shoot cutting edge projects in the studio and on location. Dave Davis Photography.com, My portfolio on ModelMayhem

26 Responses to “Shooting with the Beauty Dish”

Jim says on: 29 June 2009 at 8:12 am

Hello,
I was wondering if you had any experience useing
the beauty light outdoors with natural light.
Thanks,
Jim

Reply
- Dave says on: 29 June 2009 at 8:20 am
  
  Hi Jim,
  Yes I use the beauty dish as a fill light outdoors a lot. I have used it as a main on overcast days, late in the evening and at night. I use Alien Bees 1600′s so sun light @ f-5.6 or lower is usually not an issue during high and mid sun light times of the day…
  
  Cheers,
  Dave
  DaveDavis.me MM#37812
  
  Reply
Kevin says on: 15 August 2009 at 8:39 am

The stripboxes look like an easy way to control the light and direct it more effectively, but $$$$$$$

Ciao
Kevin

Reply
Cindy says on: 7 December 2009 at 8:57 pm

Dave, do you honestly feel this light has given you an edge in your beauty photography? How close to these results can you come without this light?

I’m a makeup artist and I can’t find photographers in my area who specialize in makeup photography. Any advice for me?

Thanks
Cindy

Reply
- Dave says on: 8 December 2009 at 9:04 am
  
  Hi Cindy,
  I know the light makes the difference. Its the way it illuminates the makeup pigments, its hard to explain but it really works. I shoot with several models all the time, you can ask them, Tiera won’t get out of the car unless I have the beauty dish.. ha ha She is addicted to it
  
  Dave
  http://davedavisphotography.com
  
  Reply
Dave says on: 18 December 2009 at 11:43 pm

[.. shooting with the beauty dish..]

Dave
http://davedavisphotography.com

Reply
JIm Jurica says on: 6 May 2011 at 6:11 am

Great article, very informative!

Reply
Cliff W Estes says on: 22 October 2011 at 4:20 pm

Hey Dave:

Two questions:

1. Did you use the silver or white beauty dish on the implied shot?

2. Do you know where to acquire that .psd file for diagramming your lighting setups?

Thanks for a great article.

Cliff

Reply
- Dave says on: 22 October 2011 at 4:44 pm
  
  Hi Cliff,
  
  YIKES….. I haven’t looked at this article in sometime. I have updated it several times on my personal blog and I am in the process of doing an in depth eBook (not that i am trying to steal traffic from GlamModelz) http://davedavisphotography.com/?p=909
  I did a review of the ePhoto silver dish, titled “Shooting Outdoors with the Beauty Dish” http://davedavisphotography.com/?p=2438
  
  I have several examples in my personal gallery with both white and silver dishes; Beauty, Fashion, Glamour & Art. I have been using the 16″ silver dish for about the past year almost exclusively. My current studio is small and gets hard to move around in with all the toys setup. The 16″ silver dish really helps and makes it easier to maneuver around the clutter
  
  I’m using a highly modified version of the lighting diagram psd file, which I acquired from the Fred Miranda forums: http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/
  
  Hope that helps
  Dave
  
  Reply
Cliff W Estes says on: 9 November 2011 at 10:50 pm

It does help, Dave and thanks for the diagram. I hope to use it often to diagram my setups for later reference.

I just received my AB dish and can’t wait to get to the studio to play with it.

Reply
- Dave says on: 10 November 2011 at 8:08 am
  
  You’ll LOVE the AB Beauty Dish and I imagine it will last your lifetime
  
  All the best
  Dave
  http://davedavisphotography.com/
  
  Reply
agentur says on: 23 January 2012 at 4:25 am

Please message me with some hints & tips on how you made this site look this cool, I would be appreciative.

Reply
dani says on: 15 February 2012 at 1:45 am

Hmm, We have by no means heard about beauty dishes before. Thanks with regard to explaing this from the post.

Reply
Pendleton says on: 15 April 2012 at 2:28 pm

This is good article, but the version on your personal website is much better, thanks

Reply
- Dave says on: 15 April 2012 at 8:54 pm
  
  Hi Pendleton, Thanks so much for your thoughts and comments.
  
  I have been working hard on that update and I hope to post it here very soon!!
  http://davedavisphotography.com/?p=909
  
  All the best
  Dave
  
  Reply
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Reply
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