bobmartin

I see quiet a few articles on the web on DIY Beauty Dishes and I thought about making one myself... Then the thought struck me that I could maybe convert my spare square soft box.. but before starting out I wondered if anyone on here had tried it.. or if not had any ideas on the feasibility... bearing in mind the soft box is square and silver coated inside... whereas all those I've seen are round and white.. so should the front disc on my conversion be round or square...Any ideas or comments would be greatly appreciated... Thanks

Jusoljoe Loc: Texas

Bob, seems to me that the softbox would do just as good a job without all the fuss. Just wondering why the conversion, unless you are just curious. Why mess up a perfectly good softbox?

Joe

:lol:

myts10 Loc: SE Ohio

was just looking at the DIY dishes last night. I might make one just to see in I can do it.
The way I see it is a soft box tries to emulate the lighting of an over cast sky, bigger light source equals softer shadows. Big enough soft box and you will have no shadows at all.
Looking at the light pattern from a beauty dish, see less light in the center than around the edge, forerunner of the ring flash or light I guess. The middle light goes on the face while the brighter brighter outer ring of light hits around the face equaling softer shadows.
Now I suppose the first guy that tried this had round parts so called it a beauty Dish and the name stuck. If he had square parts it he would have called it a Beauty Square. Or he used a round front disk because the light bulb is round, or liked the round light on the face?? Who knows.
I did hand a round mirror gel in front of the bulb in a square soft box. Kind of neat but haven't gone any further with it yet.
Yea go for it and I for one would like to see the results.
Gary

bobmartin

Thanks for that Joe.... The softbox came free with one of my flash-heads... but it's only a metre square.. so has rarely been used since I bought two "full length" ones. Anyway it would not be be beyond use should I ever need it because the front disc would only be affixed using velcro and elastic cord and be easily removed.

bobmartin

Thanks Gary... well the conversion will only take a few minutes.. so I intend to do that tomorrow and try it out on a shoot on Sunday.

St3v3M Loc: 35,000 feet

Try this: http://davidtejada.blogspot.com/2008/04/beauty-dish-for-sb-800.html

bvargas Loc: Palm Harbor, Florida

They use round, to get round catch light, in eyes. They use white to try and get flawless skin on models.