Beauty Dish V.S. 24 Inch Silver Umbrella

[d_g5]

I am gonna buy a 24' inch silver umbrella reflector from www.briteklight.com

for $10.97. From what I'm learning it should have nearly (underline the nearly

part) the same quality as a 18-22 inch silver beauty dish.

 

Hard

Specular

Directional

 

I have some nice white spraypaint that I will be lightly (and I mean lightly)

spray on the outer edeges of the umbrella to soften the light output at the

edeges of the silver umbrella. From what I understand - from studying light. It

should soften the output at the edeges like the quality you get from a dish

(effectively appearing to tighten the lighting pattern into a smaller circle

especially if I use a reflector on the strobe as well).

 

Anyone have both a beauty dish and a small silver umbrella? If you do take some

shots the way you would if using a dish and let us know if there is much

difference in lighting quality. The small 24 inchers I see at

www.briteklight.com are the smallest and cheapest umbrellas I've seen

anywhere... definately worth giving a try.

 

Yes, I'm proud to say I cant afford a Mola beauty dish so I am looking for a

workaround - like all the other sensible photographers!

[maroark]

One big advantage to using a beauty dish is the ability to add a grid. In general I think a beauty dish will have less spread, even before the grid.

[d_g5]

I was thinking about that. I was looking at the westcott masters brush umbrella. Silver center, white rings and black edeges. Its an umbrella that goes hot center gradually to cold edges. I was considering putting a bit of black on the edeges.

[john_murphy1]

You asked for a comparison photo. This compares a generic silver umbrella with a Mola Setti

and a Elinchrom Beauty Dish (27in Softlite) with a translucent deflector.<div></div>

[d_g5]

Thank you very much for your comparison! I love you! I see that the light quality is not too far off when using a silver umbrella! I however have a very small 24 inch wide Britek silver reflective umbrella. It will be even hotter than the one you used so I can already tell you that the small silver 24 inch umbrella will come the closest to the mola! Only major difference will be the catch light. I as well as my subject can live with that!

[d_g5]

How big is your silver umbrella?

[maroark]

That looks like a 24" or there abouts. You should be able to fine tune the umbrella softness a little bit by positioning the umbrella closer or farther from the head.

 

Thanks John for the example. Now, if only I could find a beauty dish to fit speedotron black line that isn't $100+.

[d_g5]

I think I'll roll with the 24 inch silver umbrella. The light quality is close to the same. It looks like to get a slightly hotter look you can (A) overexpose a bit or (B) adjust the flash head to umbrella distance. Its basically a $10 beauty dish to me!

[ned1]

Hmm, judging from those pictures I would say that the umbrella is a LOT more specular.

[d_g5]

yeah its a bit more specular... but I think I can deal with the slight difference.

[d_g5]

my only wish... round catchlights!