I definitely enjoy a DIY project whether remodeling my house or creating a new light modifier for the kit. Recently I decided to create a beauty dish and ran across a nice design from photographer Todd Owyoung. The portraits above of Olympic track cyclist Jennie Reed, at left, and the prep baseball player were lit only with the beauty dish I made. MORE PHOTOS AND HOW-TO INFO AFTER THE JUMP…

The DIY ethic in small flash circles is not a new thing at this point with sites such as Strobist and DIY Photography, and rather than re-invent the wheel check  out Chris and Todd’s video on making a beauty dish and the accompanying blog post.

Designed to fit a Nikon SB-800 speedlight, I chose to find a cheaper solution for a mounting bracket to the Owyoung’s “cheat” of using a pre-made part from a another light modifier, and scoured the racks at Home Depot until I found a “L” corner brace to use for the mount, shown below.

Below, a quick test shot of all the parts assembled for the beauty dish prior to painting, and the always gracious young model.

Though I haven’t gotten to shoot the beauty dish as much as I’d like yet, I really like the quality of light it produces and that it holds up waaaay better in a breeze as compared to a softbox or umbrella when on location. The beauty dish was then main –or only– light for portrait session with Kenechi Udeze that was highlighted in a prior blog post. Below is a little visual reminder, the only light source coming from the dish at the subject right. Enjoy!