Ring Lights, Beauty Dish, and Salad Bowls


So you want the effects of a ring flash but don't have the cash, or you've tried the cheap plastic ring flash adapters that snap, tape, or velcro onto your camera flash. Is there a better solution? Sure, there are many in fact. There are so many available today because of social media that the prices have been driven down nd now thousands are on the market. Most designed to be used with a smartphone. But will these work for professional photography too? Yes and no.


It's hard to beat a true ring light for the effect it produces; that high fashion deliberately harsh ring effect is very popular and is best achieved with a real ring flash like the (discontinued) Alien Bees ABR800  which creates that ring of light in the eyes and rich saturated color with the edgy shadows often seen in fashion photos over the last decade or two. It's also popular in portraits of celebrities, athletes, and rock stars. But Ring flashes can be expensive, heavy, and many are not very portable requiring external power, or safe to use outdoors or around water. 

Example of a Model with a ring light
Stephanie Zetti
Ring flashes, good ones anyway can cost hundreds if not thousands of dollars, they can be heavy to hand hold and most take plug-in power or portable battery packs that require a body builder assistant to haul the whole rig around for you. Not everyone has an assistant to help carry a box of donuts let alone cases of gear, batteries, stands and reflectors.

The social media style ring lights in contrast are light, easy to use, often sync to the camera phone but can be under powered for some studio use. The ones you find at Walmart or Amazon are generally designed for close-up single light use in regular house hold lighting and require almost no skill to use. They also don’t quite offer the high fashion ring light effect some photographers are after. Instead those inexpensive large round circles are designed to make photography simple, clean and flat. Some can be repurposed for that high fashion look but most are under powered and not designed for the same use. They may produce a satisfying result but it will not be what most fashion or edgy portrait styling attempts are trying to achieve.

There are less expensive solutions but before that lets discuss a few kinds of ring flashes and beauty dishes as well as the adapters that try and fill in for a ring flash in various ways by using an existing on camera strobe. 

The ring adapters that attach to your camera flash don't create the effect as well as the real thing because of the lower power and defused nature of the adapter which can cause a loss of up to 4 stops. Then again they are less expensive and portable for an "almost ring flash" effect many people are happy with. There are a number of models on the market and it seems theres a new one every few weeks lately. Some models include Orbis, ExpoImaging, Gary Fong, and others.
Profoto Ring Light
Profoto ProRing2 with modeling light 300517 EST. $2695.00





Orbis Ring Flash Diffusing Attachment EST. $200.00




ExpoImaging Ray Flash Ring Flash Adapter EST. $199.95



22-inch High Output Beauty Dish

Buff 22-inch High Output Silver Beauty Dish Reflector EST. $ 79.95

Buff Beauty Dish
Another popular solution is a beauty dish like the 22 inch Paul C. Buff,  22HOBD from the makers of Alien Bees, Einstein and White Lightning studio strobes. Paul C. Buff makes this great one that comes with a diffusion screen when you want it and it't large size gives an effect similar to a ring flash but also softer like and umbrella, add in the diffuser and you get an effect like blending a ring flash with a softbox.


I have this beauty dish and find it very useful for fashion shoots in studio or location when I plan on using studio lights. Furthermore, I find myself using it all the time as a fill light and other uses in multi-light studio set ups. It mounts to the same speed rings as all Paul C. Buff lights including the Alien Bees or the White Lightning Pro versions I use.






Build your own for a more useful, lighter, and flexible solution
Years ago I made my own beauty dish, both a shoot through like a ring flash and a studio strobe version using a large metal salad bowl like the ones available at any cooking store or Sam's club or this 20 Qt. version from Amazon.
There are a few important details to consider when picking your bowl. First, you want a large wider bowl, not a deep bowl. The deep bowls are more similar to typical reflectors that come with many studio strobes, you know the ones you promptly take off and replace with a speed ring adapter so you can use softboxs or strip light style modifiers. These deeper bowls would just be like building a flood light and have the wrong effect.
If you have the tools and skills or have a friend who can cut it for you, cut a large hole in the bottom of the bowl large enough to allow you to shoot through the hole. I cut mine to the same size as the hole of my speed ring adapter and used sheet metal screws to mount a speed ring to the back of the bowl, which in turn allows the ring to be mounted to a light stand.
I have two versions of diffusion for the bowl. Both have a thin strip of elastic  sewn to the edge so it slips over the bowl one is made of simple white nylon cloth about 6 inches wide so that 4 inches creates a circle of diffusion around the outer edge of the bowl but allowing lots of room in the middle to shoot through. 
The other diffuser made the same way only it completely covers the bowl creating a softbox effect. Obviously, you can't shoot through the hole, instead I mount a flash or studio strobe in the speed ring and use it as a round softbox, traditional beauty dish or as a side light.
SInce I used my macro flash which mounts to the front of my lens I simply shoot through the hole in the bowl and basically get the same effect of shooting with a ring light for an investment of less than $30.00 bucks. 
I've also seen people make these out of smaller bowls, large pie tins and similar wider parabolic metal dishes.
20 Qt. Stainless Steel Mixing Bowl


20 Qt. Stainless Steel Mixing Bowl EST. 24.95 at Amazon

I mounted a macro ring flash inside the salad bowl after having a friend cut out a whole in the middle so I could shoot through it like a ring flash, with my macro flash mounted to my lens as I would normally use it.
That worked great for many years of use and I did not have to take too much care to protect the salad bowl from damage on location such as shooting at dusk at the beach, it was so cheap to replace if it was damaged and a lot safer to use around water than studio lights or studio grade ring flashes on location.





Canon Macro Ring Lite MR-14EX EST. $500.00

What kind of strobes or macro flashes do I use inside?
If you're a Canon user consider the Canon 14EX Macro flash or pick up the Vivitar DF-586 version for less than $100.00 or the Bower SFDRL14C model for the more budget minded. There are versions for Nikon, Pentax, Sony, Olympus and most major camera makers design their own versions too. There are lots of brands of Macro and ring strobes available today. If I was shopping for a new one I would consider an LED version that can also be used for video projects.


Vivitar DF-586 Dedicated Macro Ring Flash for Canon

Vivitar DF-586 Dedicated Macro Ring Flash for Canon EST. $89.99

Including the cost of the salad bowl, some gaffer tape and a speed ring and you can build a great dual use beauty dish/ring flash for less than $50.00 that works amazingly well and is a lot safer to use outdoors and around water than the much more expensive studio versions and you don't loose 3-4 stops of light as you would with ring adapters that mount to a flash. And yeah, theres no red eye with a beauty dish setup like this.




So you built one, now what?
Have fun, start with fashion style shoots. Find your favorite muse, sports star, model, kid, or dog and shoot away.
Try using a combination of ring, beauty dish, and traditional studio lighting for a more polished and professional result. Learn to experiment and find the combination that best represents your personal style and client requirements.




Comments

It is very costly lance If you're a Canon user consider the Canon 14EX Macro flash or pick up the version for less than or the Bower SFDRL14C model for the more budget minded. There are versions for Nikon, Pentax, Sony, Olympus and most major camera makers design their own versions too

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