Comments on: Choosing a Beauty Dish: What Size Is Right for Portraits?

By: Kevin Trudeau

Kevin Trudeau — Thu, 04 Feb 2021 12:40:56 +0000

Good article.
Having used mostly soft boxes I am fairly new to the beauty dish, so I appreciate this insight.
One note I will make is that you mentioned the rate of fall-off of light which is a function of the inverse square law. So the rate of fall-off is related to how close the light source is to the subject. Therefore if we keep the size of the dish reasonably consistent relative to the subject by way of changing the distance between light and subject (i.e. a smaller dish really close, a larger one farther away), then yes the fall off will change – the closer dish having much quicker fall-off (and as a consequence also better control of light spill to background).
However if we kept the distance between subject and dish exactly the same, then would we not expect fall-off to also be consistent regardless of dish size?
What would change is softness (as defined by transition to shadow) and wrap-around due to the size of the light source. Would you agree with that?
Thanks.

By: Paolo Saccheri

Paolo Saccheri — Tue, 17 Dec 2019 23:44:56 +0000

Hello, This was the article I needed, thank you! The photos of the model are very helpful.
I want to start a new project with head and shoulder portraits and I need to buy everything, lighting, modifier, stand, etc. I am looking for shadows, detail, posed quiet expressions. Like historic photography (I am printing cyanotypes).
I like the beauty dish effect but I can’t still well understand if the 16″ or 22″ is my best solution.
I will be using a 135mm lens on a FF camera, probably at f/2 for the shallowest dof, shot on a tripod.
I understand that the 16″ will have to be set closer to the subject (may be the stand could be inside the view so may be I should buy a boom).

Could you tell me the “golden distance” of a 16″ beauty dish from the subject, if any, to have the best results for a head and shoulder shot? I am looking for a visible light fall off from the forehead to the shoulders.

I add that, since the distance lamp-subject is short and my aperture so wide, I am deciding whether buying a continuous led light strobe (less powerful) instead of a classic studio strobe, because the latter whichever power it has will have to be dimmed with a ND filter (I made quite a research on that) to be used at f/2.

I will be shooting non-models subjects, and I guess putting a lamp too close to a person could be annoying for them to give their best relaxed expressions (although I imagine this should depend on me).
I don’t know if there is one solution for all the aspects I pointed out…
Thank for any advice you can give me!!

By: Caz Nowaczyk - Editor

Caz Nowaczyk - Editor — Thu, 04 Jul 2019 19:04:51 +0000

In reply to GS9400. @gs@GS9400:disqus please be respectful when commenting on articles. Thanks!

By: John McIntire

John McIntire — Thu, 04 Jul 2019 15:01:02 +0000

In reply to Eric M. Thanks Eric. I'm glad you found the article useful. That beauty dish will serve you well. If you do find it a bit too big in close, all you have to do to get a similar effect to a smaller beauty dish (in terms of quality of light) is to move it away from your subject.

By: John McIntire

John McIntire — Thu, 04 Jul 2019 14:58:37 +0000

In reply to pete iseman. Thanks Pete, I appreciate you saying so. A beauty dish is a great alternative to a softbox in terms of the footprint. If it's a really big softbox, just remember that you will have to bring the beauty dish in really close to your subject to get a similar softness to the light.

By: Eric M

Eric M — Thu, 04 Jul 2019 12:32:22 +0000

I’m a complete newbie to studio lighting and just ordered a collapsible 25″ with grid and diffuser so very excited to test it out and see the differing results. Thanks for the great article to reference as I don’t think that I would have known where to look for the subtle differences to help me determine if I can nuance it to get what I like or if I’d prefer a smaller size to try as well.

By: pete iseman

pete iseman — Thu, 04 Jul 2019 11:15:59 +0000

nice job on your explanation. I recently purchased large softbox for my small studio and was wondering if I could get a similar effect with something that has a smaller footprint. This really helps explain that for me. appreciate the work you put in to it.

By: John McIntire

John McIntire — Wed, 03 Jul 2019 06:22:25 +0000

In reply to GS9400. How utterly charming . . .