Light Stands and other gear for indoor portraits.

can you simulate the look of a beauty dish with an umbrella?

Charlie wrote in post #17876532
from my reading, a beauty dish is more geared for models since the lighting is a little hard and can accentuate cheekbones/features well, where a softbox is more geared for family/groups/non models since the light is spread out more, and fills in wrinkles/poor features better.

I have a kacey beauty dish that is gridded so I can use it just like a gridded softbox. Also I can put 2 speedlights on the backside. Also front diffusion material can be added.

Versatility for soft light that is just out of the camera's frame.

Tommydigi wrote in post #17876543
can you simulate the look of a beauty dish with an umbrella?

I think so, feathering a lightbox, removing front baffle, that's some of the ways I've seen it done.

Tommydigi wrote in post #17876543
can you simulate the look of a beauty dish with an umbrella?

No.

With the greatest of respect, anyone who says you can can't judge light properly. A beauty dish is quite a specialised look, I've heard it called an 'ugly dish' because it's not very flattering if you use it with the wrong subject.

In fact the 'pop up beauty dish' looks nothing like a beauty dish - you should be able to tell the difference between a silvered and a white beauty dish.

You can however put a sock on a beauty dish and make it look like a small softbox.

So what would be a decent affordable beauty dish? I would use it on my 600 flash.

I like the look this guy gets with it.

https://www.youtube.co​m/watch?v=NYGCOyiVERE

Tommydigi wrote in post #17876688
So what would be a decent affordable beauty dish? I would use it on my 600 flash.

I like the look this guy gets with it.

https://www.youtube.co​m/watch?v=NYGCOyiVERE

Again, some people will disagree, but you can't fill a BD properly with a speedlight. The lamp should sit at the base of the dish, that's how they're designed to work. A speedlight has its lamp encased in an adjustable reflector so the passage of light will never be the same.

That said, in that particular clip, he was using a sock, which is more or less the same as using a small softbox, which you can use with a speedlight quite successfully.

Phil V wrote in post #17876727
Again, some people will disagree, but you can't fill a BD properly with a speedlight. The lamp should sit at the base of the dish, that's how they're designed to work. A speedlight has its lamp encased in an adjustable reflector so the passage of light will never be the same.

That said, in that particular clip, he was using a sock, which is more or less the same as using a small softbox, which you can use with a speedlight quite successfully.

I dont see why he couldnt use a bowens mount beauty dish, along with his S bracket?

something like this should be able to screw into his bowens mount s bracket.

Or something like this
http://www.amazon.com …1-14&keywords=beauty+dis​h

If you watch the video he is really close to the model so I can't see why a 600 flash would not be enough.

http://youtu.be/x6JtRE​EISA8 You could make your own

http://www.adorama.com​/FASRSHOBB.html

will this connect to the bracket i just purchased?

Charlie wrote in post #17876751
I dont see why he couldnt use a bowens mount beauty dish, along with his S bracket?

something like this should be able to screw into his bowens mount s bracket.

Because, like I said, the light is in the wrong place, behind a lens and within a reflector.

Some people do it, and are happy with the results, but IMHO it's not the same light as a strobe where the flash tube is sat in the right place.

Skip the beauty dish for speedlites. Small hard light sources have their place but most of the speedlite versions are not worth the bother.

Tommydigi wrote in post #17876688
So what would be a decent affordable beauty dish? I would use it on my 600 flash.

I like the look this guy gets with it.

https://www.youtube.co​m/watch?v=NYGCOyiVERE

Heya,

A beauty dish for a speedlite, I would go for a larger one. I think the smaller BD's are too harsh looking. Bigger ones produce a nicer look without spectral highlights, etc. I'd go for a 22" or so. If you get a bowen's mount, it will fit to an s-bracket that has a bowen's mount where the speedlite is suspended in the middle. It'll work. Even though the speedlite isn't quite up to the power for task, you can make it work, by shooting at higher ISO in lower ambient light, so that the efficiency of your speedlite is higher.

Fotodiox (bowen's speedring, will mount to your bowen's s-bracket; with diffuser sock; 22")
Impact, Folding, 28" (Simply more portable as it collapses)

Very best,

MalVeauX wrote in post #17876882
A beauty dish for a speedlite, I would go for a larger one. I think the smaller BD's are too harsh looking. Bigger ones produce a nicer look without spectral highlights, etc. I'd go for a 22" or so. If you get a bowen's mount, it will fit to an s-bracket that has a bowen's mount where the speedlite is suspended in the middle. It'll work. Even though the speedlite isn't quite up to the power for task, you can make it work, by shooting at higher ISO in lower ambient light, so that the efficiency of your speedlite is higher.

I used one 600ex-rt in a 22" white-interior BD as one of my go-to portable setups for beauty shots. Perfect size. Umbrella style softboxes require just as much power in my experience, with my smallest (30" octa) really needing 2 speedlites in it to be usable, and it's more of a PITA to set up and adjust since the speedlites end up sealed up inside it. Many of the speedlite-to-Bowens mounts will also let you put 2 unfolded speedlites back to back if you really need more power, but a 22" dish used as intended requires only a single 600ex-rt. Beauty dishes are meant to be used fairly close to the subject if you want the characteristic look they're designed for. For a 22" dish, this is usually not more than a couple of feet from the subject's face, so you don't need a lot of power. One mistake people often make is using them much too far away, at which point they are just a small, hard light source robbed of their magic.

absplastic wrote in post #17876930
... One mistake people often make is using them much too far away, at which point they are just a small, hard light source robbed of their magic.

The white-finish BD is remarkably flexible in usage. In apparent size, it more closely resembles a circular SB, especially when an opal diffuser is installed. I rarely place mine at 2', preferring to illuminate a larger subject area and harden the light. Here's a 21" white BD @ 6' for a 3/4 portrait: