Join us for a new monthly series that highlights a different Elinchrom Light Shaper or Lighting Technique, with sample images (full length and cropped headshots) and lighting diagrams. All the images were photographed with the same model and outfit (standing in the same spot on the background – about 3 feet away), the same day in the same blacked out studio, with the same strobes at the same height (forehead height) & distance (about 5 feet) from the model and the same camera setup. I tried to remove as many obstacles as possible so we can compare light shaper effects.
I used an Elinchrom FIVE battery monolight triggered by the Elinchrom Transmitter Pro. My trusty Gossen Digisky light meter ensured consistent exposure values – it has an integrated Skyport transceiver to remotely trigger the FIVE. My Nikon D810 had a Tamron 85mm f/1.8 lens and all was mounted on a Vanguard VEO 3+ 263CB tripod. Camera settings are ISO64, f/8, 1/125s We used an Easiframe backdrop system with the Grey Texture backdrop. I tethered my camera into Capture One on my laptop with a Tether Pro USB-C to C cable and connected my laptop to a large screen TV with a TetherPro HDMI cable so we could review images on the big screen.
Special thanks to Phil and RevPrint Studio (https://www.revprint.com/) for the use of their space. Phil hosts workshops featuring Elinchrom gear via West Toronto Photography Group (https://www.wtpg.ngo/)
I’ll start with light shapers and techniques for portraiture. This month, our focus is on the Elinchrom 44cm Silver Beauty Dish, which comes with four deflector plates for subtle changes in your light characteristics. Silver is the most popular beauty dish colour as its more contrasty than the white Beauty Dish.
The Beauty Dish is a favourite tool of portrait and fashion photographers, as well as hair photographers. It’s a large flat reflector with either a silver or white interior and a deflector plate to block the hotspot and fill the dish with light. The light from a Beauty Dish is quite hard to help sculpt the subject’s face and show texture in their hair, skin and makeup. This hard light creates crispy shadows under the nose and chin to add definition to a face. The fall-off is fairly sharp – they’re ideal for head and shoulders portraits as the light emphasizes the face with less spill on the background. Lastly, Beauty Dishes create perfectly circular catchlights in the eyes – they replicate what we normally see in the eyes from natural sunlight.
Elinchrom Beauty Dish White Deflector
Elinchrom Beauty Dish Translucent Deflector
Elinchrom Beauty Dish Silver Deflector
Elinchrom Beauty Dish Gold Deflector
Let’s compare the full-length images first. A Beauty Dish is not the ideal light shaper for a full-length portrait – you can see the light fall-off starts just above her knees (I love these leather pants so we can see the exact fall-off). The light is fairly consistent from Maya’s forehead to her hips – that’s a signature of this size of flat reflector. The shadow on the background is very noticeable.
You can see the effects of the different deflector plates – it’s very subtle. The White is the coolest, followed by Silver then Translucent then Gold. I was pleasantly surprised by the Gold deflector – often a Gold deflector is too warm, making your subject look like they have jaundice. The Elinchrom deflector adds a touch of warmth without being overbearing.
I sampled the same spot on Maya’s forehead and read the RGB values to see the affect of each deflector on her skintone.
The values are:
| Silver | 214 R, 187 G, 170 B, 193 L | White | 213 R, 191 G, 174 B, 197 L |
| Translucent | 200 R, 166 G, 152 B, 175 L | Gold | 208 R, 170 G, 150 B, 179 L |
Interestingly, the White resulted in the highest luminance values – handy if you need to subtly brighten a subject’s skin without affecting overall exposure.
Aside from the subtle colour shifts with the different deflectors, the light shape and pattern doesn’t change except with the Translucent Deflector as it allows some light to pass through.
Looking at the cropped headshots, this is where the magic happens with the Beauty Dish. There is some really nice sculpting of the nose and jawline; Maya’s hair closest to the light has a shimmer; her eyes sparkle and feature a perfect round catch-light; small highlights on her nose, cheek and forehead, plus a small spot on her lip, help define her features. There is a highlight along Maya’s jawline that is from light bouncing off her skin and hair back onto her chin.
Elinchrom Beauty Dish White Deflector
Elinchrom Beauty Dish Translucent Deflector
Elinchrom Beauty Dish Silver Deflector
Elinchrom Beauty Dish Gold Deflector
If you’re a portrait or hair photographer, you’ll want to have a Silver Beauty Dish in your collection of light shapers. Share some of your favourite images taken with a Beauty Dish on our Facebook page or tag us on Instagram.
Next month, I’ll show the effects of the Elinchrom Silver Beauty Dish with the grid and diffuser sock. At the end of the series, we’ll compare each of the Elinchrom light shapers to each other. See you next month!
Read the previous articles:
Elinchrom Light Shapers and Lighting Techniques – #Series 1
Items Discussed
Author: Will Prentice
A portrait, fine art and commercial photographer for 30 plus years, Will Prentice is not just a contributor to PHOTONews magazine, but also host of PHOTONewsTV, owner of Captura Photography+Imaging and Technical Support/Brand Manager for Amplis Foto, Canada’s largest distributor of photographic equipment.
Will teaches photographers of all skill levels how to improve their craft – from creative photo projects to picking the right gear for their needs to flattering lighting to getting the best expressions to creating final images for screen and print. His unique style of highly detailed images with perfect tonality, wide dynamic range and stunning colour is instantly recognizable. Commercial clients rely on Will’s creative eye and mastery of lighting.
When he’s not behind the camera or in front of a class, you’ll find Will outdoors in any weather – usually on one of his bikes or enjoying time with his grandchildren.
