My Cheap DIY Beauty Dish

[craigb456]

I wanted to have a Beauty Dish but i do not have the money to go out and buy one so here is what i did. The grand total was under $30. Let me know what you guys think :)

Sorry for the bad Quality pics they where taken from my cell phone. My real camera is in the shop I will post some example pics using it when i get it back

Heres is the rundown on parts
White Satin Paint $4.34
Black Satin Paint $4.34
Painters Tape $6.67
Mirror $1.37
2X3" C Outlet $2.98
Plastic Bowl (11.5") $3.00
Super glue $2.00
2nd Plastic bowl Free
Old CD spindle top Free
Bad CD-R Free
Total $24.70

Now for the build

Here are the Parts layed out before i started



Ok first i centered the C outlet on the bowl marked for the cut and stated cutting. This was a mistake the bowl was a cheap plastic bowl that just shattered when i started cutting.



So after that i raided the kitchen to see what i might have under the sink and voila the same size bowl and it was of better quality than the first and it also has a white lid that might make a good diffuser but i will try that later. Next I had to sweet talk the wife in letting me cut it up :)

So I re-centered the C outlet marked and cut and this time success



Next i took the CD spindle top used the super glue to glue the bad CD to the top and glued the mirror to the center.



Next i used the super glue to glue the C channel to the back of the bowl then preceded to paint it





Then i taped up the sides of the CD spindle top and painted the top of it black





All that was left todo was glue the CD spindle to the inside of the bowl and here is the finished product



Here is my Sony HLV-42AM Flash attached to it



Here is my Sony HLV-42AM Flash standing next to it

[dixonduke]

thanks for the diy tutorial, nicely done! i'm gonna give this a go myself!

[arich]

Always nice to see a new DIY walk-through, thanks! That being said, I'm concerned by how deep the bowl you used is, looks like its going to end up making more of a focused beam as opposed to the flattering even spread of a tradition BD. This is the tutorial I'm currently using (I have all the parts, just need to find a dremel and get going) The Best DIY Beauty Dish | ishootshows.com

[craigb456]

Originally Posted by arich

Always nice to see a new DIY walk-through, thanks! That being said, I'm concerned by how deep the bowl you used is, looks like its going to end up making more of a focused beam as opposed to the flattering even spread of a tradition BD. This is the tutorial I'm currently using (I have all the parts, just need to find a dremel and get going) The Best DIY Beauty Dish | ishootshows.com

Yea I saw that but wanted to try something cheaper and fyi the bowl is 4.5" deep i do not know what normal Beauty Dishes are I added a pic with the flash standing beside it so you can see how deep it is

[texxter]

Thank you for sharing. This seems to be the David Tejada beauty dish

Annual Report Photographer David Tejada "The f-Stops Here": Beauty Dish for SB-800

which is based in Tyler Burk's 2008 design here, and David mentions in his instructions.

Flickr: Discussing DIY Beauty Dish - Yeah, another one! in Strobist.com

I built this dish a while ago and it works well.

[craigb456]

Originally Posted by texxter

Thank you for sharing. This seems to be the David Tejada beauty dish

Annual Report Photographer David Tejada "The f-Stops Here": Beauty Dish for SB-800

which is based in Tyler Burk's 2008 design here, and David mentions in his instructions.

Flickr: Discussing DIY Beauty Dish - Yeah, another one! in Strobist.com

I built this dish a while ago and it works well.

Yea i looked at probably over a dozen designs and took what i saw and ran with it combining what i liked from each of them

[Kenski Photo]

Looks like it would be a narrow beam with the depth of the bowl and the flatness of using the CD to bounce the light.

any examples of the light output? I have seen this done before but not many examples of the light.

[craigb456]

Originally Posted by Kenski Photo

Looks like it would be a narrow beam with the depth of the bowl and the flatness of using the CD to bounce the light.

any examples of the light output? I have seen this done before but not many examples of the light.

I was planing on it but as i said in the very beginning "Sorry for the bad Quality pics they where taken from my cell phone. My real camera is in the shop I will post some example pics using it when i get it back" witch should be in 2 weeks

[Abel]

nicely done craig... thanks for the pics!

[texxter]

Here are two images taken with my plastic beauty dish:

http://www.texasphotoforum.com/forum...ble-flash.html

[craigb456]

Originally Posted by texxter

Here are two images taken with my plastic beauty dish:

Thanks for sharing i hope mine works the same

[craigb456]

Originally Posted by Abel

nicely done craig... thanks for the pics!

Thanks

[Kenski Photo]

Looks really good!

[groovyone]

Nice work, and great job documenting the process.

[craigb456]

Originally Posted by groovyone

Nice work, and great job documenting the process.

Thanks