Beauty Dish Vs Softbox

Because there is a lot of discussion lately about beauty dishes i also incorporated my beauty dish into this test.

Beauty dish vs softbox.

A beauty dish is better when you want a brighter more sculpted look to your client s face. The softbox manny uses in the video is westcott rapid box switch octa m 36. It has two diffusion panels and gives a very soft flattering light. Beauty dishes while umbrellas and softboxes are fairly flexible modifiers beauty dishes are a more niche tool used primarily for beauty fashion and headshot photography.

It can create a very unique look for your portraits. Hopefully you can visually discern this difference in my example shots below. A beauty dish is essentially a reflector with a circular disc positioned a few inches directly in front of the light source. They tend to be heavier and sturdier than fabric boxes.

It also provides softer light than a camera flash but the light is a bit harder than that of a softbox. A softbox is better for softer light with less contrast and more gradual transitions between light and dark. Hopefully you can visually discern this difference in the following sample shots. Because there is a lot of talk lately within the forums about beauty dishes i also incorporated my beauty dish into this test.

With all modifiers the bigger the modifier the softer the light. They are also more flattering to flawed skin. The beauty dish makes use of a center disc in front of the light that bounces it around the dish giving you a more uniform but slightly more direct light than the standard softbox as well as more chiseled and defined shadows that would be more noticeable in portrait photography. It s a lot smaller than the umbrella or softbox i used for these shots.

The beauty dish allows perfectly focused light source without any hot area in the middle. Moreover the beauty dish allows a concentrated light source from where light splits at the edges. The beauty dish is a lot smaller than the umbrella or softbox i used for these shots.