The Beauty Dish

The beauty dish is one of the most popular light modifiers in use. It is the preferred piece of equipment by amateurs and professional photographers alike.

Mola Beauty Dish

Why is it called a beauty dish? Largely it is called a beauty dish due to its shape and its resemblance to a bowl or dish. That shape attributes largely to the structural characteristics of the light cast. Light from the strobe strikes a central flat and often reflective disc that sits in the center of the dish and bounces omnidirectionally back into the bowl and out again into the dish's outer edges in a conal pattern.

The light cast is considerably more directional and specular than a softbox. While softboxes (as their name denotes) is far softer and generally wrapping but with significantly reduced gradient lumen transition from highlight to shadow. The falloff, as observed in light from a beauty dish, possesses a far shorter specular transition along its edges. While the transition from highlight to shadow is markedly short and evident, it is very mellow along the fringes of lumen dissipation giving the light a spherical characteristic. 

The specular quality of the light is observable in the reflective highlights falling upon the subject. The illumination nears zero as it approaches the outer edges of the cast conal light pattern. So why a beauty dish? Many photographers prefer the directional control and spherical light quality as it falls across a subject. This creates an observable transition within the context of a small frame. While softboxes create a greater spill, beauty dish lumen transition can be seen in a relative small area.This offers a significant degree of creative control for fashion photography and beauty. However, due to the light's swift falloff it is generally preferred with subjects where stronger contrast are more flattering as opposed to broader light sources that create less emphasis on irregular surfaces such as less than perfect skin.

The spherical nature of the light is clearly seen in this capture. Most photographers as do I, try to identify a sweet spot where the transition is perfectly placed. It varies depending on the conditions as well as the subject since the strength of reflection is governed by available light, exposure, DOF, and distance from the light source. Most might say that area is slightly outside of the physical center of the light source; catching the inner rim of falloff. This adds a layer of dimensionality to the shadow cast against the subject, creating more depth. 

Catchlights in the subject's eyes is also an attractive feature of the beauty dish's light. Most find that spherical conal pattern highly appealing. This spherical shape adds more life in the eyes, more specifically, depth created by the transition.

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That pattern can be seen in this image. As aforementioned, the subject lies just slightly off center of the reflective middle. For me this was the "sweet spot" for this particular capture. The falloff is clearly observable on the model's shoulder and this multifaceted characteristic is seen again on her nose bridge while the sphere is evident over the entire frame.


Again, this type of light is often used with subject's with above average skin and complexions. Be mindful that it will emphasize even the slightest irregular surface as seen on the wall the model leans against.

Like many other modifiers the beauty dish has accessories of its own including a sock and/or grids. Grids usually set into the outer rim of the dish and can be purchased in varying degrees often from 15 to 40 to control direction. Socks are made of a diffused fabric material that filters the light and softens it further, creating characteristics more like a softbox but with slightly more direction.

The beauty dish is certainly my preferred modifier and it is available in several different sizes. My personal favorite is the Mola beauty dish as seen above.