One thing we have to remember is that the beauty dish is an /old/ piece of gear. Some people put it back to 1956, but Richard Avedon was using one in the 60s and I used one in the early 70s. The point of that is that they were "soft" lights that could be used with the very hot incandescent lights of the time. The beauty dish I used had 1000 watts of halogen power...that's a space heater. That's why they had to be all metal, and needed a metal diffusion plate. That plate does introduce special beauty dish magic. It casts a bit of a shadow, an "umbra" that only extends out about the distance of the diameter of the dish. If you put the dish close to the subject's face, you get the full effect of the dish modeling, plus you put the closest surfaces of the face (usually the forehead, cheeks, and nose bridge) into that umbra, reducing the hot spots while still getting good modeling.
Excellent comparison Daniel Norton, for those building their Studio Light and Gear this is great alternative! Thanks ADORAMA for having someone like Daniel Norton helping understand all the wonderful Gear available in your great store!
My biggest annoyance with umbrellas always was lack of control. I like to think of umbrellas as producing the softness of a soft box but doing it as if it was a grenade of light. This isn't a big deal in a mostly white studio, but can cause issues on location or anywhere that the errant light can bounce off stuff and create weird casts or reflections in your frame. Softboxes and Beauty dishes are much more directional, especially if you add in a grid. This lets you really control that errant light and focus it only where you want it to fall.
I think I actually prefer the umbrella! Ive got a white beauty dish, so its probably going to be right in the middle. But they are a pain to lug around for location work. Mine collect dust behind couch
The skin tone differences between both light sources was so mind blowing though I prefer the one from the see thru umbrella..... who else thinks the same? BTW gr8 video and shows real time differences and why color calibration is so important in and out of studio 👍🏼
fantastic thanks so much for creating this video - I started my journey years back with speedlites and small umbrellas like this and still use them today for portrait and headshot work despite getting a couple of softboxes - I still have not tried a beauty dish and its great to see your comparison here good to know !
Love these bite sized demos. Thanks for posting Daniel. Check out British portrait photographer Rory Lewis’s use of a shoot through umbrella, nice and simple for sure.
Hey Daniel, I have seen that beaury dish before. The one with the dent and brownish-colored tape. Oh yes, that's the one in the Adorama event space. I have been watching all your videos for maybe three years now. Thank you.
Thanks, Daniel and Erica. I don't have a beauty dish and so far, have never felt the need for one. Yes, slightly different results than an umbrella, but not worth the cost to me, at least not yet.
I use a white shoot through umbrella in the same manner as i do not have a beauty dish, i still have Larson Reflectosol square one. Great video, Thanks Daniel and Erica.
Very informative video. I like it as I wouldn't have normally used an umbrella here. The distance of the dish from the subject seems further than its radius. I normally use it slightly closer to the subject. Did this affect your degree of specularity? Also, i would use a 5 in 1 reflector at abdomen level.
Daniel, any tips for focusing and composing once settings are set to factor out ambient light? I just have a speedlight and beauty dish so there's no modeling light to help with the dark view I see with my mirrorless camera. Love your videos! Perfectly presented and highly helpful!
I would love to have a booklet of Erica's posing flow from @2:12 and @5:22 to give to non-model clients. Erica is brilliant and a pro she's just nailing poses.
The closer the umbrella is to the light source the less of the umbrella is being lit, thus making the light harder as what you've essentially done is make the umbrella even smaller. Conversely, the farther away you put your umbrella from your light source, the softer the light will be as you're using a larger portion of the umbrella.
The problem in this setting is the Profoto B1x. This flash doesnt have an exposed flash tube (at least in this setting). The special effect of a beauty dish depends on the light emitting sideways from an exposed flash tube (non deflecting). Here, the B1x blasts 100% of its light against the deflector and nothing sideways. So the light is different from a "standard" flash in a beauty dish.
Having used the bare bulb and the flat front I can say the difference is marginal. The spread of the B1X is 120 degrees so it’s not blasting the deflector
Sorry Daniel this is OCD kicking in, oops I mean CDO okay good letters are in the correct order now, that divot in the beauty dish is driving me insane, I have to imagine an auto body guy can fix that in an instant. Please! LOL! No seriously! Oh crap there's 3.
One thing we have to remember is that the beauty dish is an /old/ piece of gear. Some people put it back to 1956, but Richard Avedon was using one in the 60s and I used one in the early 70s. The point of that is that they were "soft" lights that could be used with the very hot incandescent lights of the time. The beauty dish I used had 1000 watts of halogen power...that's a space heater. That's why they had to be all metal, and needed a metal diffusion plate. That plate does introduce special beauty dish magic. It casts a bit of a shadow, an "umbra" that only extends out about the distance of the diameter of the dish. If you put the dish close to the subject's face, you get the full effect of the dish modeling, plus you put the closest surfaces of the face (usually the forehead, cheeks, and nose bridge) into that umbra, reducing the hot spots while still getting good modeling.
Comprehensive comment about the origin and the actual case scenario in which an umbrella can't really do exactly like it.
Very helpful and informative! Thank you so much Daniel, Erica and exceptional Adorama people!
thanks for this explanation. Now I'm buying both a beauty dish and a small shoot through.
Awesome
I always look forward to your video Daniel!
You've become one of my go to guys for explaining lighting setups, I'd just like to thank you guys on the adorama channel for your efforts.
Good lesson! Erica looks fantastic in the little black dress 😍
Thank you
I love using my Beauty Dish for close up work, great video.
Cool
Daniel, can you let the newbies know what's with that brownish square on the beauty dish 😂😂😂 YOU ROCK DANIEL !
I've always said: the shoot-thru is the most inexpensive bad-ass too we have! Great video Brother - short, sweet and to the impactful point!
I’ve got so many shoot throughs that I’ve literally never used. Think it’s time I change that
Excellent tips, as always Daniel. Thank you!
Thanks
All your videos are super helpful. Great explanation. Bonus: Erica is beautiful. Her smile seems very genuine. Keep them coming.
Thank You!
Thank you Daniel, I never think about umbrellas this way, the results are really nice!
Great! Budget friendly tips are most appreciated, Daniel. Thank you.
Excellent comparison Daniel Norton, for those building their Studio Light and Gear this is great alternative! Thanks ADORAMA for having someone like Daniel Norton helping understand all the wonderful Gear available in your great store!
Thank you!
My biggest annoyance with umbrellas always was lack of control. I like to think of umbrellas as producing the softness of a soft box but doing it as if it was a grenade of light.
This isn't a big deal in a mostly white studio, but can cause issues on location or anywhere that the errant light can
bounce off stuff and create weird casts or reflections in your frame. Softboxes and Beauty dishes are much more directional, especially if you add in a grid. This lets you really control that errant light and focus it only where you want it to fall.
I think I actually prefer the umbrella! Ive got a white beauty dish, so its probably going to be right in the middle. But they are a pain to lug around for location work. Mine collect dust behind couch
Have you tried the Glow umbrella softbox/beautydish? It's like $70 and so far, it's great. (And very light and portable.
The skin tone differences between both light sources was so mind blowing though I prefer the one from the see thru umbrella..... who else thinks the same? BTW gr8 video and shows real time differences and why color calibration is so important in and out of studio 👍🏼
I agree. Personally, I've always thought you receive very little from a beauty dish. IMHO, they cost too much as well.
True, each modifier will have a bit of a color shift, also the space you are in make a difference
Premium material here. Thank you very much for this Daniel.
Thanks for watching
Great work as always, Daniel!
Great as usual and see the detail in the pendant on the chain with the umbrella versus blown out pendant with the beauty dish
Great video, David. Once again you've saved me some $$$. Thanks!
cool
fantastic thanks so much for creating this video - I started my journey years back with speedlites and small umbrellas like this and still use them today for portrait and headshot work despite getting a couple of softboxes - I still have not tried a beauty dish and its great to see your comparison here good to know !
Awesome
Love these bite sized demos. Thanks for posting Daniel. Check out British portrait photographer Rory Lewis’s use of a shoot through umbrella, nice and simple for sure.
🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
Nice comparison, thanks Daniel!
You should have taken a picture of those kicking shoes Erica is wearing👌, great info as always, thanks 👍👍
Maybe a product video in the future, good idea!
Hey Daniel, I have seen that beaury dish before. The one with the dent and brownish-colored tape. Oh yes, that's the one in the Adorama event space. I have been watching all your videos for maybe three years now. Thank you.
Thanks. Great video and alternative to a beauty dish.
So simple and so great!!
Thanks for the great video Daniel
Thanks, Daniel and Erica. I don't have a beauty dish and so far, have never felt the need for one. Yes, slightly different results than an umbrella, but not worth the cost to me, at least not yet.
Right, it depends on the work you do for sure
From this I learned to (better) consider my goals and thought process going into a shoot. Thanks!
Thanks Daniel (and Erica). Great info and great video as always. 🇨🇦
🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
I love umbrellas. Thank you!!!
Thanks for watching!
Love my umbrellas!
Nice Daniel. And yo longhair seens more powerful for a global guru!) Good work good week and happy hollydays for you and all Adorama.
I use a white shoot through umbrella in the same manner as i do not have a beauty dish, i still have Larson Reflectosol square one. Great video, Thanks Daniel and Erica.
Nice! Thanks
வீடியோ மிகவும் பயனுள்ளதாக இருந்தது மிக்க நன்றி
Very useful This video , big thank you (R.MANOHAR ,Chennai.India)
Very informative video. I like it as I wouldn't have normally used an umbrella here. The distance of the dish from the subject seems further than its radius. I normally use it slightly closer to the subject. Did this affect your degree of specularity? Also, i would use a 5 in 1 reflector at abdomen level.
Спасибо! Обязательно попробую зонт на следующей фотосъемке
Daniel, any tips for focusing and composing once settings are set to factor out ambient light? I just have a speedlight and beauty dish so there's no modeling light to help with the dark view I see with my mirrorless camera. Love your videos! Perfectly presented and highly helpful!
You're not cheap, you're "frugal". 😁
Ha ha
great info!
Great video Daniel, I would've liked to seen a white beauty dish added as a third image comparison,thanks.
White beauty dish would have been less specular
I would love to have a booklet of Erica's posing flow from @2:12 and @5:22 to give to non-model clients. Erica is brilliant and a pro she's just nailing poses.
Awesome!
Thank you
Obviously, shoot thru umbrella is fine budget solution, I would ad, especially if you work with off camera flash. Daniel, would you agree with that?
I always wonder how far the umbrella should be from the light source. If I was using a speedlight versus a monolight, would it be different?
I was wondering the same thing. Did you do any tests?
The closer the umbrella is to the light source the less of the umbrella is being lit, thus making the light harder as what you've essentially done is make the umbrella even smaller. Conversely, the farther away you put your umbrella from your light source, the softer the light will be as you're using a larger portion of the umbrella.
I haven't used my beauty dish in years - Unless the subject has perfect skin then its too contrasty.
Even the baby brolly looks better...
cuando alguien se suscribe a tu canal se dice gracias adorama
It's so clear how the inverse square law results in offsetting the white background.
For sure
Fun job! ;)
Yes!
Awesome.
Thanks!
Great tips. How far is Erica from the background?
been there done that 25 years ago with a small ttl flash
Love from 🇮🇳
Thanks!!
Beauty dish creates more contrast while umbrella keeping those secular highlights has less Contrasty softer light
Right, the dish is smaller and silver so it’s a bit punchier, but I think pretty close all things considered
What is the reason to use a sock with the beauty dish?
The problem in this setting is the Profoto B1x. This flash doesnt have an exposed flash tube (at least in this setting). The special effect of a beauty dish depends on the light emitting sideways from an exposed flash tube (non deflecting). Here, the B1x blasts 100% of its light against the deflector and nothing sideways. So the light is different from a "standard" flash in a beauty dish.
Having used the bare bulb and the flat front I can say the difference is marginal. The spread of the B1X is 120 degrees so it’s not blasting the deflector
What C stand are you using? Thanks 🙏
would yo compare a shoot through with a reflective type of umbrella of the same size thank you
Reflective will be harder and the light will spread more
What if i only have a 45 inch umbrella? Would sliding it closer to the flash help?
It would help, but it would not be the same
in big space I always use umbrella but if the walls expecially on the background is too near...umbrella spread too much light
Yeah, shoot-through umbrellas put more at the back than in the front.
Sorry Daniel this is OCD kicking in, oops I mean CDO okay good letters are in the correct order now, that divot in the beauty dish is driving me insane, I have to imagine an auto body guy can fix that in an instant. Please! LOL! No seriously! Oh crap there's 3.
Nice
Thanks!
What’s the size of the beauty dish?
Umbrella is better?
Different I'd say, Umbrella lacks edge control of course
Nobody needs a beauty dish unless you are using a hot light.
You are "thrifty" not cheap.
Ha ha