Using a Beauty Dish

[phil9945]

18" Beauty Dish (baffled) to left, hair light, reflector right ...
thanks for c&c - Phil

[Ginger Pixie]

It makes her face look good, but her hair... not so much. I'm finding it a real distraction as the highlights are so bright.

[crockny]

She needs to use conditioner! But seriously the light just highlights all her stray hairs. She's very pretty but her face seems a little washed out to me and the bags under her eyes could use a little touch up -- not sure if the lighting is making them more obvious ... her right eye seems out of focus and the makeup seems heavy. Sorry to be so critical! I'm not an expert in this area ... your EXIF data might help.

[Rentham]

Originally Posted by crockny

her right eye seems out of focus and the makeup seems heavy.

Make up doesn't look too heavy to me. Bags under the eyes and the hair light catching the fly-aways definitely need work. The light is very punchy, but that is often one of the main reasons to use a beauty dish. How far away was it from her? When I use a dish I move it in as close as possible for these kinds of shots.

[phil9945]

wow - thanks for the comments.
I didn't even notice the bags under her eyes - I guess because I see her every day of my life they were not so obvious to me.
Initially I thought the stray hairs lit from behind looked pretty cool - but on further examination I have to agree - they don't fit in this shot - conditioner - I fork out a fortune on a regular basis - I don't think she has that problem
Beauty Dish was about 3 ft away - I think I need to get it in a bit closer?
She only had a moderate amount of makeup on - perhaps we could cut it back a bit -

anyway - will post more once I have her in my sights again (bags n all)

Thanks everyone
Phil

[Peach]

I don't think the make up is heavy at all. But then I don't wear make up almost ever. lol

As for the hair, maybe next time lightly mist it with some water/hairspray combination and run your hand over (in the direction of the hair) her hair to get those fly-aways to lay down? I don't think conditioner is a problem here, I think it's more the hair cut itself. It looks like she has short layers cut in, and when you flip the hair over like that, you're bound to get some of them not wanting to stay in place

Off topic, this my 666 post. EEK!

[ccting]

good post,,, i am using 34cm (13'') beauty dish and i usually put less than 1 foot to my baby. I find that the fall off is too much... sometimes..

[Doug Sundseth]

The trade-off with lights is that closer is softer, but closer also means faster fall-off with distance from the light.