Beauty Dish

[gcobb]

I am about to get something else to use other than the umbrellas. How and when is a beauty dish used? Is this better to use then firing through an umbrella to use as a diffuser? Should I get a soft box instead? This will be mainly indoors.

[René Damkot]

Have a read here (http://photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00A2hl&unified_p=1) or here (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=280857)

[TMR Design]

If you're thinking of getting the beauty dish as a replacment for your main light modifier I'm not sure I would agree with that decision. Of course this is just my personal preference but I think a beauty dish would be great to have and use for specific shots and don't think I would want to use it all the time as my main light modifier.

For that reason I would suggest any one of the following:

Diffusion Panel
Softbox
Octabox
SoftLighter II

These are all great ways to difffuse and soften light with a large light source. Then perhaps get a beauty dish and substitute it for your main light modifier at times. You can even use it as your fill if you like, but I see it as an alternative and not something flexible enough to be my primary light modifier of choice.

I'm sure others will have varying preferences as well, but that's my nickel's worth.