TWO SHOTS OF MY BETTER HALF

Shot with a Vivitar 285HV (off camera) with a homemade beauty dish and a 420EX (on camera) with the Gary Fong Lightsphere. All comments welcome.

Like the results I nice soft lighting on these. What did you do to make your beauty dish?

I am not that expert but the first pic is good! Great work!

The lighting in these photos look good - it's hard to tell exactly with such small images however.

The background of both photos is very cluttered - try taking them again with a plain background, or even a proper backdrop.

Thank you very much for the comments. I have been getting what I think are great results from my homemade beauty dish. I found the directions on the strobist forums. I currently cannot find the link. This is how I made it:

I bought the largest white plastic bowl I could find (at the dollar store).
I cut a hole in the bottom of the bowl just big enough for the flash to poke through.
I cut a piece of foam board in a circle large enough to cover the front of the flash and covered it with aluminum tape (anything shiny will work).
I attached the foam board reflector to the top of the bowl using four tie wraps (zip ties) so it is directly in like with the flash.
That’s it.

Basically, the light from the flash hits the reflector board, bounces back into the bowl, then bounces out of the bowl and onto the subject. The parabolic shape of the bowl gives the bounced light a nice even shape.

If I can find the link I will post it.

wagonwheel wrote in post #7230848
Thank you very much for the comments. I have been getting what I think are great results from my homemade beauty dish. I found the directions on the strobist forums. I currently cannot find the link. This is how I made it:

I bought the largest white plastic bowl I could find (at the dollar store).
I cut a hole in the bottom of the bowl just big enough for the flash to poke through.
I cut a piece of foam board in a circle large enough to cover the front of the flash and covered it with aluminum tape (anything shiny will work).
I attached the foam board reflector to the top of the bowl using four tie wraps (zip ties) so it is directly in like with the flash.
That’s it.

Basically, the light from the flash hits the reflector board, bounces back into the bowl, then bounces out of the bowl and onto the subject. The parabolic shape of the bowl gives the bounced light a nice even shape.

If I can find the link I will post it.

post a picture of your DIY dish.

Very nicely done

You did well

wagonwheel wrote in post #7230848
Thank you very much for the comments. I have been getting what I think are great results from my homemade beauty dish. I found the directions on the strobist forums. I currently cannot find the link. This is how I made it:

I bought the largest white plastic bowl I could find (at the dollar store).
I cut a hole in the bottom of the bowl just big enough for the flash to poke through.
I cut a piece of foam board in a circle large enough to cover the front of the flash and covered it with aluminum tape (anything shiny will work).
I attached the foam board reflector to the top of the bowl using four tie wraps (zip ties) so it is directly in like with the flash.
That’s it.

Basically, the light from the flash hits the reflector board, bounces back into the bowl, then bounces out of the bowl and onto the subject. The parabolic shape of the bowl gives the bounced light a nice even shape.

That demonstrates a fine level of adaptability. Well done. The larger the dish the softer the light. Perhaps I should take down the SKY TV dish that I never use and adapt that!

Nice shots, with excellent light. A better backdrop would have made them top notch. You say 'better half' - surely not at photography?