# Advantages of a beauty dish over softbox



## lance70 (Sep 16, 2016)

Hello....looking for some input from people who have experience using a beauty dish and do you prefer it over a softbox for lighting the face....and do you suggest using it with or without a diffuser? Thank you.


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## Scatterbrained (Sep 16, 2016)

That depends.    What size softbox are you talking about?     Personally, I like the crisp nature of the light from a BD as well as the round catchlight in the eye.


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## lance70 (Sep 16, 2016)

Scatterbrained said:


> That depends.    What size softbox are you talking about?     Personally, I like the crisp nature of the light from a BD as well as the round catchlight in the eye.




I have two 26" x 26" softboxes, I would love the catchlight in the eye to be round, that's a good point!


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## AKUK (Sep 16, 2016)

The most apparent difference will obviously be the shape of the catch-light in the eye being circular, as opposed to square/rectangular.

If used without a sock the beauty dish is different to a softbox, as the centre of the light is blocked by the reflector, which bounces the light back into the rest of the dome, before being shot forward again. This is the opposite of a softbox, in the sense that the hotspot is in the centre of the light panel and falls off towards the edges. The crispness of the light will also depend upon whether the beauty dish is silver or white inside. The silver will give a more specular highlight. You can see the same thing if you use a silver/white pop-up reflector and the difference in the effect upon the skin.

A lot of beauty dishes also come with grids. While softboxes do too, they are nowhere near as small/tight in size and so don't allow focusing of the light anywhere near as much as a gridded beauty dish, or a 7" reflector with grid.

Both BD and SB have their advantages and disadvantages, in terms of light shape and fall off. I like using my small beauty dish up close as a key light on the face, whilst using 20x90cm soft boxes for kickers. I have a larger beauty dish which I'm not so much a fan of. I don't have a grid for it and in my small studio space, I find it sends light all over the place. Not a problem if shooting against a white backdrop or as an ambient fill to raise the exposure of shadows. However, I much prefer working with smaller modifiers up close, to allow me to sculpt the features of the face and use larger ones to control the intensity of the shadows.  

Here are a couple of examples of images shot with a small beauty dish with grid (I think it's 10" but don't quote me on that).


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## KmH (Sep 16, 2016)

It's all about the differences in light quality and the light quality you want.
So each has advantages over the other. 
A softbox is generally going to be bigger and deliver softer light (less shadow edge definition) than a beauty dish will.


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## tirediron (Sep 16, 2016)

That's like asking, "What are the advantages of an apple over a pear?"  They're two totally different modifiers which produce two totally different kinds of light.  In general a beauty dish produces a crisper light with more dramatic fall off, but one can sock it for a similar effect to to that of a small softbox.  I use a gridded beauty dish for my Veteran's Portraits:





 or as the lightsource when I'm using my triflector.  

For most general portraiture, I use a large octabox:





or a large (50") softbox:





In short:  Each modifier has a particular look; use the modifier you need for the look you want.


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## chuasam (Sep 17, 2016)

Your formal military portraits work well. Also apples can keep doctors away and formaldehyde can be found in pears.


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## tirediron (Sep 17, 2016)

chuasam said:


> Your formal military portraits work well. Also apples can keep doctors away and formaldehyde can be found in pears.


Good call!   Thanks mate.


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## lance70 (Sep 17, 2016)

Thanks for the info and great examples, much appreciated


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## pixmedic (Sep 17, 2016)

i prefer my 43" round softbox umbrellas.
i generally prefer diffused light, but it really depends on what type of pictures you are trying to take.


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## WayneF (Sep 18, 2016)

Before you spend the money, Google beauty dish wrinkles.

These are different animals.  Beauty dish is a smaller, more harsh hard light, and the subject needs very good smooth skin (typically youth).  Most ladies won't like the way it accents their wrinkles.  A soft box is, well, soft, which hides imperfections, which is a popular goal.


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