A Dish of Beauty

Well, a bowl really. Actually, its a 14" garden bowl from Home Depot, and the subject of this weeks DIY project.

DIY Beauty Dish

A beauty dish is an awesome way to modify hard light. It brings out texture, detail, and can really give a slight edge over photos done with soft boxes. We rarely ever shoot elderly people, so the need to de-emphasize the skin has never come up. Its provides a sort of "bounce" quality lighting, but not has hard as direct flash. Seeing as how they do not make them to fit small flashes, you have to build em yourself!

I took a 14" garden bowl from home depot, painted the inside FLAT white, and the outside FLAT black. The flat white is important! Cut a hole in the back to fit the -flash head. Next, I cut the bottom off of a 5" Tupperware container, and glued a 3" mirror in place to cover the hole (the bottom of the bowl was smaller than the mirror).

After that, I placed 2 bolts on either side to hold the container in place. The mirror spreads the light. If you can find a 3" parabolic (spot) mirror, that might be better. I could only find a 2". The flash pretty much hangs there...the hold is just big enough to where the velcro thats already attached to the flash on all sides kind of holds it in place.

After the bowl was complete, I drilled a hole through the top of a standard umbrella adaptor, and slide it into place...if that makes any sense....photos of the process would have been good, but I wasnt thinking this time around cause I wanted to finish it up!

The diffuser is flipped down to ensure an even spread.

I love this DIY beauty dish so much, I'm building a second to use ALL the time!

Tomorrow we're takin a trip to the fabric store to pick up some rip-stop nylon to make a diffuser that will slip over the bowl for a softer look!

I love how the light spreads out evenly! Super cool!



Max is getting frikking big.



100% crop to show the catchlight with the dish. Pretty nifty.



The most beautiful woman in the world...my wife!

*Edit*

Now building DIY BD for sale.

I have had several folks ask me to build them one of these, so I have decided to start building them for other people. The price is $75 and includes;

- A 14" Beauty Dish that will fit any small flash
- Adapter already attached for easy placement on light stand, and can be be full adjusted
- Small bungee to secure flash

Payment
Contact nick@haskinsphotography.com with the subject line "DIY BD Sale" and provide your name, address, and make/model of your flash. I will send you an invoice through email that can be paid through paypal or with any major credit card. Price includes ground shipping to anywhere within the United States. Expedited shipping available for an additional fee of $15.

Please note
This is a DIY Beauty Dish, and while extra measures are taken to make sure the quality is up to par, please remember that we are not a manufacturing facility. It's a one man show here, with a really loud 13 wk old screaming in the background.

The flash fits snug into the back of the dish. Using the small bungee provide, hook one end onto the bar, and wrap around flash placing other end on the bar.

You will also be required to sign a waiver freeing us from any legal actions that may be taken from flashes falling out of the back of the beauty dish. Again, this is a DIY project, and while I do not expect any problems, I hope you understand the reason for signing the waiver. We have only had one instance where the wind blew over the lightstand and in this case, the BD saved the flash.

Photo shown below is a used BD.

*Update Post Here*