大景堂

Stephen Eastwood | Photography

BeautyDish

BEAUTYDISH

Q. I’ve read in a lot of your other threads that you use a beauty dish quite
often but usually it is a gridded beauty dish.  Is this a specialized beauty
dish that accepts a grid or do all beauty dishes accept a grid ( looking through
B&H the only gridded dish I saw was a Hensel).  For example I just
got a Alien bee beauty dish, can a grid be used with this and how.

I have heard that there is a focus distance to a beauty dish that is ideal is
that true?

1) you can use an Speedotron grid on a Alienbee 22inch beauty dish, may take
a tweak to the clips but it fits, also on hensel 22inch dishes, again tweak
the springclips t stay on tight.

2) there is not a true point of focus, but a relative focus area, the shape
will focus the light somewhat and I have often found that a great range for
great effect on a BD with no direct light from center is anywhere from 1 foot
away to 4 1/2 feet away, beyond that and its fine but begins to lose the effect
of it being a beautydish and becomes more of an umbrella, except that a gird
can make the light into a smaller tighter area than a huge sprad of an umbrella.

Because I know its coming I will give some more info on them.

Below are a few examples, all with grid several different dishes, I am not a
huge fan of an unmodified mola, the spedotron blackline dish is my favorite
followed by a hensel silver with deflector, not the center grided one or at
least not using a center grid,  I do not use dishes without overall grids
unless I am outside using it as a sun from far away.   Broncolor makes
a nice one also.

As I said I only use them with grids, without it you might as well use an umbrella,
much cheaper and lighter.  The speedotron has a diffused center I would
place a mirror behind it reflecting the light back at the head and a black circle
to cut the center so no light comes through, you could also leave a white center
once the mirror back is in place light cannot go through anyway.   many
other brands of dishes including alienbee are 22inch diameter and as such the
speedotron grid will fit any 22inch,  you may have to adjust the clips
to hold it tighter or just weld it one I woudl it never comes off and if I needed
it without one outside I woudl use something else instead hmm
I also  have a few custom made with tighter degrees but the speedotron
is cheap, easy and works great no need to have any made unless you have some
lighting companies looking to do something for you.

I like to control spill, flags can but the grids are very directional more so
than a flag or barndoors or snoot even if its a tight grid.  I have grids
on almost everything except umbrellas, fresnels, and obscure things like likesticks,
globes, and glowing objects, I use them on Softboxes, Octobanks, octoboxes,
striplights, lightbars, even my snoots have a grid.  I would grid my grid
if I could,  I think I have a control issue I need to deal with…..

Now I am including many samples, mainly because I figure if I gave some examples
it would show some range of a BD without a major variation in photographer style
vast difference is technique or majot model quality location shifts that cloud
the issue more, so hopefully you get more of a feel for what the dish can do
for you.

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Q. Do you have a lighting combination you like to use with
a beauty light? I want to get a beauty dish but cant decide between the profoto
silver or white, i was told to get silver and I can add a white diffuser sock
for when I wanted the softer white effect is this true?

I never use the sock, but no its not the same, the sock diffuses the light
and spreads it out more, if you use a grid the silver has more specular punch
and snap and the white a bot softer snap to it but both will follow a grid path
well and tight a diffuser will all but kill the grid effect and control

You can always paint a white with mettalic silver or a silver you can sand down
and paint white if you really have a need and desire for them.

And what the silver dish does in a more general sense compared to the white,
in non technical terms, (depending on which silver, smooth or rough, patterned
or bumpy etc) is it creates high and brighter sources of light from the mirrored
surfaces as compared to the less bright reflections out so when adjusting for
the light to keep the highlights you lose some of the lower end and get a more
vast shift from highlight to shadow creating deeper shadows and bright highlights.
A white dish has a more uniform light reflecting outward creating uniform highlughts
and shadows (within reason) which acts as the highlughts and fill on the surface
of the skin thereby softeneing the shadows.

That is obviously non technical and it is designed more to help people get a
vision in their head of what is happening with the dish.

Q. Would there be any way to recreate that lighting without a beauty dish
and a grid?

The studio that I am currently using is quite limited, with only 4 strobes.
1 320, 2 500s, and 1 1600.  Oh, and one fresnel.   We don’t
have any barn doors that fit the lights we use, so trying to stop spill is
nearly impossible without rigging up some kind of foam core.

Is there a way to get comparable results with limited equipment?

NO,  if you could do it with limited equipment there would be no point
to them still being made, this is not like fashion, people in this field buy
based on desired outcome, not look, so if you could get it from another item
you would.  That said a BD without grid is not much different from an umbrella,
and the nearest effect without getting a large reflector and making a BD which
is just making one, would bt to get a small softbox or octodome, say a 19″ to
25inch and then with no diffuser on it mount a mirror in front of the light
and bounce the light back so its basically a beauty dish, than get a grid for
the box.  This will likely cost more than a BD and grid would so I see
no point.  Many people never used a BD and have great stuff, if you look
around my main site there is plenty more there that is not done with a BD and
its all OK looking for not using a BD and grid to get it wink
so its not needed, its an option that some use rarely, some never some often
and some shoudl have them taken away and there camera replaced with a brick
so as to not cause my eyes to bleed when seeing what they produced sad
but in any event use what you have available and make it work how you like it,
you will find that its SO NOT THE TOOL, the tools do nothing but give you some
options and make things easier or harder to do, and basically they give you
something to keep you busy playing with so you don’t get bored and fall into
the same old routine everyday. hmm

And I love frensels,  I have broncolor, speedotron and hensel ones, in
6inch, 4 inch, 8 inch 12 inch and 14 inch they are all killers!!!!  very
cool, and at up to 6400ws on the brons and 4800ws on the speedos I can light
up the moon when I need a full one  wink

    Fred's portrait is beautifully lit with continuous light. I have never seen three reflectors used in a sun-tan position before but the result is stunning. (Check out the catch lights)

    Photographer Benoit Linard lit Manon in a classical way - a softbox from camera left, and a bare strobe from far right. sounds familiar? This setup is very similar to the one used by Zeke for his gangster image above. The list is soft since the small softbox is positioned very close to the model.

    The Lighting for this self portrait by Zeke Kamm is a pretty standard setup for these kind of shots. Umbrella as a key light and a bare strobe for some separation. The interesting bit, though is the way Zeke slows the shutter down to let some motion blur into the feast. (I tried to locate the assistant, for more details, but he would not talk).

    Hey hey! Last week I showed you studio lighting setup, where I used small depth of field F4 (Studio lighting setup #17, charcoal background.) and all light sources were at minimal power. Now, I would like to show you an example of the opposite case. As I have said before, I often use F10 when shooting in the studio. This time I’ll use F25 and all light sources will be at maximal power and regulated only by change in the distance between them and the model. Two 120° Wide-Angle Reflector lights are set on each side of the model in parallel with the background. Snoot is pointed on the silver top of the model, to make it shine. Beauty dish as key light is at the left of the model and another 120° Wide-Angle Reflector and big softbox are used as fill light. I liked the result of the experiment very much and I hope that you will try the variant of studio lighting setup and will be satisfied like I am! Cya next time!

Day 119 of 365 - Well, I don't know what I can find

Opportunities everywhere. Never stop to look for the little things. I know I never do. I always find that when I least expect it, something wonderful happens – or what I least want to do turns out to be the most incredible thing ever.

Clichés everywhere. Yes, but they work. How about you get your favorite quotes by your favorite peeps and live by them? Why don't you just try it out, it might be the best things you will have ever done.

Just sayin'.

Lighting info
- YN560 at 24mm zoom and 1/4 power, in 27" Softbox. Positioned camera-left about 0,5 meter from subject. (Rim Light)

- YN560 II at 24mm zoom and 1/4 power, in 27" Softbox. Positioned camera-right about 0,5 meter from subject. (Rim Light)

- Chinon 900C at 35mm zoom and 1/1 power, with omnibounce into 47" shoot through umbrella. Positioned on-axis about 0,6 meter from subject. (Fill Light)

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Day 124 of 365 - New Glasses Acquired

Look! I have new glasses. Yay! I had to choose this rim over an armani one. Well, bollocks, but style first, made second.

Lighting info
- YN560 at 24mm zoom and 1/16 power, bare. Positioned camera-left about 0,5 meter from subject. (Rim Light)

- YN560 II at 24mm zoom and 1/16 power,bare. Positioned camera-right about 0,5 meter from subject. (Rim Light)

- Chinon 900C at 35mm zoom and 1/1 power, with omnibounce into 47" shoot through umbrella. Positioned on-axis about 0,6 meter from subject. (Fill Light)

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Glossy Beauty Shot

Model: Krisztina Baumgartner
Photo/Retouch: Viktor Fejes

Just a very simple, glossy beauty shot with my favorite three-light-setup and vivid background. Enjoy!

Lighting info
- YN560 at 24mm zoom and 1/4 power, in 27" Softbox. Positioned camera-left about 0,5 meter from subject. (Rim Light)

- YN560 II at 24mm zoom and 1/4 power, in 27" Softbox. Positioned camera-right about 0,5 meter from subject. (Rim Light)

- Chinon 900C at 35mm zoom and 1/1 power, with omnibounce into 47" shoot through umbrella. Positioned on-axis about 0,6 meter from subject. (Fill Light)

There are only two lights used for this look:

    You’re actually using a large softbox as your background (you can see the subject standing in front of a large Octabank above), but you tilt the light back at a 45° angle (as seen above). NOTE: For the shot in the Westcott catalog, I used a 36″x48″ Westcott softbox behind the subject instead of the Octabank. Worked just as well (the Octa is actually a little overkill). By having your subject stand directly in front of the large softbox behind her, it makes the light wrap right around her face on both sides.
    The 2nd light in this case is a Beauty Dish (the one shown above is actually a White Lightning strobe with a beauty dish attachment, but we’ve since replaced that rig with an Elinchrom strobe and beauty dish. I’ll discuss why in just a moment). NOTE: In the Westcott catalog, the front light was another Spliderlite TD-5, with a smaller 16×22″ softbox, but in the same overhead position as you see here. This light you put up high—directly in front of your subject, but angled down at her at a 45° angle (so basically, the two softboxes are aiming at each other).(2a) You also need a reflector down low bouncing some of that light back into your subject’s face (as shown above. By the way; that’s a celebrity guest-reflector holder; Photoshop World digital video instructor Rod Harlan). The reflector should be placed about chest level, just below the bottom of your frame (I just kept telling Rod “Lower….lower…lower…until I couldn’t see it in my frame any longer). NOTE: Since this shot was taken, I’ve gotten a Lastolite Tri-panel reflector (which reflects from three angles, using three different reflector mounted on one stand, and I would now use that instead—-that thing works wonders!).

Because you’re aiming directly at a softbox (the one behind your subject), there’s a decent chance you’ll get some lens flare back into your lens, so you could try and block the light as much as possible (by putting up some large black flags in front of you, and then shoot through a small slit between them), but instead what I do is just know that it’s going to be a little washed out when the Raw photo comes into Lightroom (or Camera Raw), but the fix is incredibly easy—-all you do is drag the Blacks slider to the right (as shown below) until the photo looks balanced. Works like a charm.

copyright, Eric Ogden.

You may have read/heard of/seen the movies All the Pretty Horses and No Country for Old Men. The books were written by Cormac McCarthy – a southern, literary phenom (and Pulitzer Prize winner) who has been compared to Faulkner and Melville, but maybe better. The probability is high that you haven’t heard of his earlier work, though. Titles like Suttree, Blood Meridian, Child of God and Outer Dark. Critically acclaimed novels that had absolutely no commercial success. When I was introduced to these works years ago, they rocked my world. In a good way. I have been one of McCarthy’s biggest fans ever since.

Now know that Cormac is a strange guy. Other than writing about topics like sibling incest, necrophilia and Indian scalp bounty hunting, he is famous for how little we’ve seen or heard from him. He’s a J.D. Salinger-level recluse. In his entire life, he’s given just three interviews and I don’t believe had ever sat for a formal portrait until this 2007 shot by Eric Ogden for Time Magazine.

Why did Cormac wait until then? Not sure, exactly. But the reason for this shot was his collaboration with the Coen brothers on the Academy Award-winning  No Country. I was excited to see that Time chose Eric for this story. His photo lighting is dramatic, powerful and portrays Cormac as the bad-ass he is (well, at least in my mind). This shot was created with 3 lights and the soundtrack to The Good, The Bad and The Ugly on continuous loop.

Camera: Medium format, 400 ASA film, with 90mm lens, set on a tripod 9 feet back. Shot at 1/125, f11, ISO 400.

Lighting: Though seemingly straightforward, the layered lighting has some delicate nuance. The key light is a standard 7-inch, gridded reflector at f16 1/2 (+1 1/2 stops) 8 feet to camera left, slightly behind Cormac and just above his head. This light creates the strong facial highlights and draws the viewer’s eye directly there. The fill light is a large softbox at f5.6 (-1 stop) high and directly behind camera. A small, gridded softbox at f11 is boomed in from camera left directly above Cormac’s head, acting as a hair light.

Comments: After a lengthy kale frittata discussion on the correct ratio of egg to heavy cream (nope, not whole milk), Cormac engaged Eric in an impromptu staring contest. The two of stood just feet apart, for what some say was near 8 minutes, before Eric finally yelled “uncle” and blinked. At which point Cormac continued staring, cracked his knuckles and began to sing Prince’s When Doves Cry.

copyright, Victor Demarchelier.

When your pop is Patrick Demarchelier, you’ve got some photo juju at your disposal. After assisting his dad for a bit, young Victor went out on his own in 2009 to shoot mostly models of the fashion variety. And if you’re up on your models, you know Ms. Jablonski is pretty big. Which may explain (or not) the 50-gallon hat she’s styled in for this September 2012 Harper’s Bazaar Australia cover. Vincent lit this image with 2 lights and a hat wrangler.

*Thanks to Dennis Zeitz for sending me this image.

Camera: Medium format, digital, with 100mm lens. Set on a tripod 10 feet back. Shot at 1/125, f11, ISO 50.

Lighting: To achieve this extremely flattering, soft light, Vincent pulled a page from his dad’s playbook. The Key light is a medium octabank at f11, just above head height and 6 feet to camera right. You can see that the light is not very high since it Constance’s hat doesn’t cast much of a shadow on her face. A 7-inch grid reflector with 30 degree grid at f8 (-1 stop) is low and behind Connie to camera right. It’s aimed up at the center of the seamless to create the slight glow behind her. A black v-flat is just to camera left of Constance to create a strong shadow on that side.

Comments: Unbeknownst to many, Constance is quite the card. She arrived on set speaking not with her native French accent, but with a full-on Aussie one. She proceeded to teach the entire crew how to speak Australian and told Victor that she almost “chucked a sickie” because she was “chundering” all morning after a “cobber” fed her a few “icy poles” made with Vodka.

    copyright, Albert Watson.

Steve Jobs was the man. In so many way. But he granted very few interviews and photo ops, apparently due to camera shyness and being uncomfortable in the public eye. With Steve’s passing, Albert Watson’s 2006 portrait catapulted to fame overnight. It became the defining image of the intense genius behind Apple’s rebirth. Originally color, the now b&w shot says what Steve knew all along: I’m going to revolutionize so much more than just computers. The image was created with three strobes.

Camera: Arca-Swiss F-Line Misura with 150mm Schneider lens and Kodak Portra 160nc 4×5 film, set on a tripod 8 feet back. Shot at 1/250, f32, ISO 100.

Lighting: Albert is certainly old-school and this set-up is nothing shocking. The key light is a white umbrella at f32, high and six feet to camera left. Two umbrellas at f16 1/2 (-1 stop) are placed behind Steve to the left and right. They evenly light the background and remove any shadow there.

Comments: Before getting underway, Steve and Albert jabbered about computers, iPods and the future of the music industry. Still a fan of analog (cameras, records, etc.), Albert was still skeptical of keeping his entire music library on a tiny, electronic device. He did, however, think it would be cool to someday have a phone that would play music, keep appointments and help him track the sun’s trajectory during the day.

copyright, Loretta Lux

Part of her haunting and surreal Works IV, The Drummer (although overall very flat) was made with 6 lights. Sometimes you need a lot of light to make it appear that you don’t.

Camera: Nikon D2X with 50mm lens, set on tripod 8 feet from child. Shot at 1/60, f8, ISO 100.

Lighting: Since Loretta’s goal is to create an uber-flat image, no key lighting exists. All of the lights are used to flatten the child’s skin tones, while leaving a hint of shadow (under his chin). 2 white umbrellas at f5.6 1/2 are six feet to both camera right and left, and 4 feet above the boy’s head. 2 normal reflectors on a light tree at f4 1/2 are bounced into the white side of a v-flat behind camera, just to the right. Another 2, with the exact setup, are just to the left. This helps to fill most of the shadow.

Comments: For lunch, the caterer served fish sticks, chicken strips, carrot strips, apple strips and ketchup. The boy had been beating like a maniac on the drum, but stopped abruptly, here, when Loretta told him her real name is

copyright, Julia Fullerton-Batten

Here’s one image from Julia’s “in between” series (really provocative series of women not exactly falling). My guess is that she used 3 lights to make this image.

Camera: Hasselblad H4 with 50mm lens and Hassy digital back, on a tripod 8 feet from the falling model. Shot at 1/250, f11, ISO 100.

Lighting: The key light on the model is an Elinchrom octabank at f11, up high and to the left of the model, out of frame, pointed downward. A small softbox is boomed high and overhead of the bed at f11, creating that nice highlight in the middle of the duvet cover. Another small softbox is boomed high over the chair at the right of the image, also at f11. By using only these 3 lights in such a large room, the absence of light in the other areas helps bring emotion and focus to our falling woman.

Comments: This image was shot after lunch where Julia finished half of a tuna fish sandwich and a green tea. The model, a trained stunt woman, actually launched herself into the air and fell for each take. Just before hitting the ground, she spun around and landed on her feet just like a cat would, to much applause.

copyright, Jill Greenberg

Jill’s “end times” series of crying babies is certainly polarizing. You either want to call child services or get down on your knees and bow to her genius. This particular sobbing infant had 8 lights strobing all around her.

Camera: Mamiya RZ with 140mm macro lens and Phase One P25 digital back on tripod 6 feet away. Shot at 1/125, f8, ISO 100.

Lighting: There is not exactly any key lighting, but lots of layering, instead. A white beauty dish at f8 is three feet in front of and above the camera. A ring flash at f5.6 is is three feet in front of and below the camera. Two white umbrellas, both at f5.6 are to the left and right of camera. A small soft box without a baffle at f16.5 is boomed overhead of the baby. Two heads with normal reflectors and grids at f16.5 are behind and above the model from both the left and right sides, creating the hair and shoulder highlights. Another head with normal reflector and grid at f11.5 is positioned behind the baby and aimed at the background to create the glow. The lighting gives the basis for this cool effect, but Jill also uses lots of brushwork in Photoshop to accentuate the highlights and shadows and to give some extra smoothing.

Comments: Everyone on set sucked on lollipops while the girl sat in front of the camera. It was so unfair, she cried and reportedly gave Jill the finger.