More Beauty Dish Samples

I noticed a few things when using my DIY Beauty Dish, and have tried to read up on how to adjust to it.

By the very nature of the beauty dish, there are going to be shadows and well lit areas. That really is the purpose of the dish as opposed to the somewhat flat lighting that can come from a flash at a greater distance. However, because it is meant to be used so close to the subject, generally within a few feet, it completely overpowers the ambient light. Usually I use 1/4 power to light the entire room. Here I am using 1/16 power, and completely overpowering the ambient light. I either need to use another light to light the background, or go outside.

Because the beauty dish overpowers the ambient light, there is little light for fill in the shadows or for the background. The light also falls off reasonably quickly, further increasing the need to light the background if a lit background is desired. Perhaps a reflector would be useful, but the model above generally does not cooperate and hold a reflector by herself.

Interestingly, I actually built my beauty dish with a hole in the back to accommodate 2 flashes, but so far I find even 1 flash at low power to be more powerful than I need.