Portrait Dish or Beauty Dish is one of the main light modifiers used by photographers in portrait photography. By creating a directional and evenly diffused flow of light, the portrait dish helps to bring out the texture of the model’s skin and facial details. Portal COOPH shares a DIY version of this modifier, which can be easily assembled using available materials.
To create this portrait plate you will need:
1. The Big White Plastic Bowl
2. Plastic wrapping from a pile of CD/DVDs or something similar
3. One CD/DVD
4. Double duct tape, duct tape, knife
The creation process starts with marking out the flash hole. To do this, the plastic bowl must be placed upside down, the flash head must be placed against it and the outline of the flash must be traced with a pencil. Then, using a knife, cut a hole along the resulting outline.
Next, you need to shorten the packaging from the CD/DVD so that its height corresponds to the depth of the bowl. Then double scotch tape and duct tape come into play. Two pieces of tape should be glued to the mirror surface of the disk and fastened to the bottom of the pack.
After that you need to stick pieces of tape on the sides of the CD/DVD packaging and fix the packaging inside the bowl. Also, use the tape to tape the center hole on the bottom of the package and secure the plate to the flash head. Double tape and duct tape are not the only ways to attach all the elements and you can always come up with your own.
A more detailed creation process is available in the video at the link:
youtube.com/watch?v=-xKEQCs-Q2M
Examples of images taken using this portrait plate option:
Photo by COOPH
