Beauty dish is a dish shaped flash light modifier that can be used to enhance portraits. There isn’t a definitive answer anywhere I could find about where the name came from but some people think the name comes from its popular use in beauty photography involving extreme close-ups like in make up ads. Beauty dish provides a much more diffused light compared to a bare flash but the light isn’t as diffused or soft as the light from softbox. Perhaps this is why it provides certain unique “look” that many people like. It is getting very popular as a do-it-yourself (DIY) photography project.
Out of a large list of beauty dish DIY projects, I found this one to be the best I have seen so far. It uses only a few parts that cost about $20: an empty CD spindle case you may already have, a plastic bowl and a plastic downspout adapter for a gutter from home improvement store, and a convex mirror from auto parts store. It is a very easy project as well. Several people reported that the project takes only about an hour to complete once you have all the parts.
If you are temped to get started to make your own beauty dish, you may find that the parts availability can be a problem depends on where you live and what flash unit you have. You may not be able to find the exact dish, the gutter part, the convex mirror etc. Don’t get frustrated though. Just try to be creative and you should be able to find alternatives. Check out the following links for some inspiration:
or the 
for use as the dishKeywords: Beauty Dish, DIY, Do-it-yourself, Lighting
|
|
Twit This Post! |
 Print This Post
|
Thank you for posting the link to my DIY Beauty dish at Lightandpixels.com I hope that other photogs can use the plans to create a dish of their own. The key to the dish is the adjustable mirror. It lets you match the mirror and the bowl shape so you get good quality light. Cheers, Tom
This seamed pretty easy and I am in the middle of making mine. I own a 580EX. The plastic down spout didn’t quite fit. But, fear not. I put a cut from the edge to the base in the four rounded corners. This aloud the sides to flex around to except the size/shape of the flash. I got the bowl (18″ plastic flower pot), plastic down spout, spray paint (white only) at Lowes. I got a 3 3/4″ convex mirror at Advance Auto. The mirror isn’t quite a large enough diameter to fit inside the CD case. Take any old CD the you have. Glue it inside the CD lid with the shiny side toward the bowl. Then add the convex mirror onto the CD. This will make the entire inside of the lid a reflective surface for the flash. I used some “professional welder” cement that I already had on hand. I can’t remember the cost of that. I am sure JB Weld would work as well. So, far I don’t plan on using screws to mount the down spout; only the adhesive. We will see how that works. I am going to let the cement cure for 24 hours. I also used my dremel to make the cuts, cutouts, and to rough up the surfaces between the bowl/down spout and CD spindle/bowl. Hopefully, this will aid in the bonding process without the need for screws. The bowl is an olive green. I elected not to spend the extra 4-6 bucks on the black paint for the exterior. I figured who cares what color the outside is. If I find some reason for the black later, I can add it then with no problems.
My price came to $20 and some change. I already had the tools, cement and the CD case. I only picked up 4 items (flower pot, down spout, white paint and convex mirror). This will be 2″ larger in dia. than the real one I bought for my studio gear. And it cost 50% less!
Thanks for the info friends,
Patt