DIY Beauty Dish Photography

Beauty dishes are a great way to turn the harsh, direct light that comes from an off-camera flash into lovely, even diffused light. This type of lighting works particularly well for portraits and fashion shoots.
Professional beauty dish adapters will set your wallet back by at least a couple hundred dollars, but a homemade version can be constructed with a few items most people have at home already.

Things You'll Need

• Foil turkey pan
• Permanent marker
• Utility knife
• Clear plastic dome lid from a CD stack
• Spray adhesive
• Aluminum foil
• Hot glue gun

Instructions

Prepare the Turkey Pan

1. Trace the outline of your flash head onto the center of the bottom of the turkey pan with a permanent marker. This can be done on the front or back of the turkey pan because it will not be seen either way.

2. Draw a vertical line down the center of the outline.

3. Use the utility knife to cut the outline into two doors for the flash head to fit through. First cut the top and bottom lines of the outline. Next cut the center line, but do not cut the lines on the right and left edge of the outline.
   This will allow you to fold the cut-out sections of the turkey pan, to create doors. These doors will slip over your flash head and help keep the beauty dish steady.

Prepare the Plastic Dome

1. Trace around the top of the CD dome on a piece of aluminum foil and cut it out. The foil can be cut with the utility knife or a pair of scissors.

2. Spray the inside of the top of the plastic dome with spray adhesive.

3. Apply the foil to the dome on top of the spray adhesive. Smooth out any air bubbles.

Assemble the Beauty Dish

1. Apply a thin line of hot glue around the rim on the prepared plastic dome.

2. Place the dome on the turkey pan so the doors cut for your flash are centered within the dome.
   The dome goes on the inside of the turkey pan so when you slip your flash through the doors it will reflect off of the foil in the plastic dome. This will then reflect onto the foil of the turkey pan, which will throw the light onto your subject.

3. Insert your flash through the doors on the back and fire a test shot.

Tips & Warnings

• If the beauty dish is not held securely onto the flash consider applying Velcro to the flash head and the doors on the turkey dish.

References

• diyphotography.net: "Just Fab's Turkey Pan Beauty Dish"
• diyphotography.net: " Studio Lighting--Flash Mounted homemade DIY Beauty Dish or From Soup Dish to Beauty Dish": 2007