Beauty lighting is unique in itself because it only addresses lighting the model’s face. That’s not to say that you are not concerned with lighting her hair or other parts of her body. But when you are shooting a beauty ad or a headshot, it is imperative to understand how to specifically light for beauty. For the most part now in my career, I rely on a lighting accessory known as a beauty dish. A beauty dish is a round, flat dish usually 18″ to 36″ in diameter. It is metal and has a smaller opaque dish inside the metal dish that the light reflects against. The idea is the light reflects onto the smaller opaque dish, back into the metal dish and onto your model. The light is unforgiving but it is highly controllable in studio lighting situations. You can use a diffusion material over them, also known as a “sock”. Or you can also use a grid over the dish. A grid will soften the light but you’ll have more definitive shadows. The sock will soften the entire face, much like a soft box.
I usually place my beauty dish as close to the model as I can. Why? Because the closer the light is to your subject, the softer the light. My dish is placed high above the face, angled down on it at about a 45 degree angle. It also can be placed directly centered above the model’s face. This is normally referred to as “paramount” lighting. It got its name from Paramount Studios. This lighting was used constantly as a female “glamour” light. Remember the old Hollywood portraits made famous by photographers like George Hurrell? He used this lighting to accent the cheekbones and give a broad look to a narrow face. It is also sometimes referred to as “butterfly lighting” because of the small butterfly shadow under the nose. The shadow should fall half way between under the nose and the upper lip. With paramount lighting, I generally use a fill light to soften the shadows. I have to add here that paramount lighting has been deemed “unforgiving” light because it works best on women with high cheekbones and good skin. Beauty dishes somewhat reinforce that rule because when they are not diffused the light can equally be a bit harsh. Because I shoot young models, generally, with good skin, also generally, I don’t have too many dilemmas with this lighting. But I should say here that yes, it does have it downfalls on girls who don’t have the strongest bone structure or who have some skin issues.
BUT. Good models usually have Good skin! So it’s a lighting set up that I use frequently. (and I didn’t say it, but I’m saying it: photoshop can clean up the skin. We all know that by now, right?)
Beauty dishes are expensive. Here’s my favorite beauty dish on the market: profoto beauty dish. It’s probably the most expensive one on the market right now. But I love it. There are alternatives and much less expensive ones out there. Here’s one I took from the DIY photography site that you can make from a (gulp!) soup dish: soup dish beauty dish.
Here’s a diagram for a paramount lighting set up:
This diagram also shows a hair light and fill light set up that you can use with your paramount lighting. On the shot below, I wanted a strong character lighting so I used paramount lighting with a beauty dish. You can see how you can get those “raccoon eyes” if you’re not careful. I didn’t use a fill on this shot because I wanted an edgy look. In the cover shot I took at the top of this blog, I used paramount lighting with a beauty dish and a soft fill to the left of the model so I could get rid of the strong shadows under the eyes and nose and soften the skin a bit more. Also, as you can see by the shadows to the right of her nose, my beauty dish was not directly over her but placed slightly to the left of her face.
All Images ©2008 Melissa Rodwell Photography LLC.
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Please correct me if i’m wrong. Oriental features generally do not come with high cheekbones, or strong angular lines (heart shaped or pumpkin seed shaped…). Based on your experience, any chances that paramount lighting might be flattering?
I love beauty dishes and grids. Ive been using them alot, and they really help to soften the face. I think butterfly lighting or paramount lighting is beautiful for the right faces, otherwise they just fatten up the face. Great article.
I find that I can get similar results with Elinchrom’s Deep Throat Octa with the added bonus it’s far more flexible and easier to transport/carry for location work. It’s not an ideal solution as it’s more expensive than a beauty dish but I’ve yet to see a solution that can offer it’s flexibility.
Because of it’s focused light I can use it to do spotlight effects with little spill something that’s not so easily done in my experience of using Beauty Dishes.
Another good brand of beauty dishes/softlights is the Mola beauty dish which have a very distinct look about them (not just light but appearance!). However they are pricey.
Thanks for the info, Daris! I love it when other photographers share their knowledge on here! Keep it coming!
Thanks for your explanation! I don’t have a beauty dish but it’s definitely on my wish list.
I prefer the light straight in front of the model, above the photographer.
[...] definitely covers those three subjects, in both her personal and commercial work. In a recent blog entry, Melissa talks about how she uses the Profoto Beauty Dish. Good reading. Great [...]
[...] definitely covers those three subjects, in both her personal and commercial work. In a recent blog entry, Melissa talks about how she uses the Profoto Beauty Dish. Good reading. Great photography. Share [...]
Quick question, would you recommend using socks over hot lights?
No I wouldn’t recommend it. I use silks or scrims to diffuse hot lights!
I like beauty dish, but I love ring flash. The shadows on the wall are very interesting. The mobility with ring flash are amazing. It’s a portable studio.
hot light diffusion: rosco tough rolux, lee 250( I think it’s a differnt name in USA) any diffusion made by either gel company will withstand a decent amount of tungsten heat…oh, Liking the clean look of this site.. keep making videos with hot girls…and Dudes!word
Great blog!
Great blog and thank you for advice on using the beauty dish. I recently bought a Bowens beauty dish with diffuser attachment for around the end and additional grid in centre if desired.
I love the dramatic fashion/glamour images this produces but was a bit unsure how to direct the light on to the subject especially after reading a lot about feathering the light for soft/smooth transitions from highlight to shadow.
You say you angle the light down at 45 degrees - do you position the light to put full power into face or move it back and feather the light?
Also with your lighting pattern - I thought butterfly lighting had to be directly in front of the face and not to one side. How far off centre can you move the light before it becomes broad or short lighting?
Or perhaps it’s because you’ve photographed them full face and not 3/4 face that makes them butterfly?
Thanks in advance,
Pat
excellent!! i will try my own “paramount” setup. (For the “beauty dish” i maybe go with the DIY soup dish, LOL.)
I use almost for everything a old novatron shot through umbrella. Im up to try new light setup, but always go back to my good ‘ol umbrella…. let’s see what happen with this one.. i’ll keep u up to date. Post a link soon!!
Again such great insight! Thanks!
Here’s a DIY beauty dish that I made out of a sodium vapor light reflector:
Here’s a shot looking in it while it fires:
Here’s what the light looks like untouched:
Apologies, the links didn’t get through in my previous post. MCbT on Flickr and you can see the images in my stream.
Thank you for the info on the beauty dish. FYI - The strobist.com web site featured a set of instructions for a really nice DIY beauty dish at the blog lightandpixels.com The instruction are very good and the dish is bigger than most of the DIY dishes. Maybe most importantly lightandpixels.com shows how to adjust the reflector on the dish so you get quality light. It’s worth a read.
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I have personally taken pictures of all sorts of things, tungsten rings are insanely hard because they reflect the light everywhere. So much harder than most other types of jewelry even.