DIY Beauty Dish
During my time at Mohawk College I was assigned many creative projects. One such project threw me a curveball: shooting a subject without using conventional studio modifiers. Even if you haven’t shot photos in a studio, you’ve likely seen softboxes at some point. These are one example of studio modifiers, and are one of the most popular (a modifier is anything that changes what your flash looks like; a softbox makes the light look large, soft and bright). For this shoot, I created my own beauty dish.
Concept
I was inspired by the assignment I had handed in before this one! You can view my concept here. It also features the prototype modifiers I made!
Test Shoots
During my first test shoot, I shot with my friend Alexis, using the prototype/alpha version of the modifier I made. Fun fact: due to the angles I wanted to test out, I actually ended up having to hold the foam board with my toes, haha! I was sitting on the floor holding my camera and, monkey-style, grabbed the foam board, lifted my leg and extended it. Poor Alexis was trying not to laugh the whole time! We’re close enough that she was more than okay with me doing that, plus it was the end of a long shoot session and we needed a good laugh (we were also shooting another assignment). Shoutout to Alexis for always being ready and willing to go along with my shenanigans!
Alexis stares off to the left of the photo. The right side of the photo features red light on her face. On the left side of the photo, I pale blue light illuminates her eye. There is a diagonal divide of shadow going through the middle of her face. This was the photo I took while holding the foam board with my toes!
Though I really enjoyed the results of that shoot, I knew what I wanted to fix; there wasn’t enough blue or shape for my liking. After fixing up the modifier, I had completed a second test shoot. Unfortunately, I didn’t like the results I was getting from that prototype DIY modifier (the photo linked features my friend Emma. She looked wonderful, but I didn’t like my results).
Finally, I was struck with an idea: what if I MADE my own studio modifier?! And that was how my dollar store beauty dish was born! You can view all of the progress here.
A couple of things to note! You’ll notice that I used a hair dryer to heat us the aluminum. While aluminum does not retain heat well (it doesn’t feel incredibly hot when you take it out of a hot oven), it doesn’t absorb the heat. I had to work quickly, but the heat I applied made it much easier to shape the tin!
Final Results
Below you’ll see my final photo! My partner Johnny was my model; I was inspired by the source material of my original concept. I applied the makeup, directed him and edited the image. Hope you enjoy!
Johnny holds his fists up to the camera. Special effects (SFX) makeup makes it appear as though the wraps around his hands, his knuckles and his eye and have been bruised and bloodied. He looks slightly annoyed, but ready to face his figurative opponent.
Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed this look into my creative process!
Keep Creating,
Lex (they/them)
