Beauty photographer Kate Whyte's theme for this shoot was “beauty in a moody sense". She wanted to create an image that felt both soft yet dramatic - to showcase the sharp, graphic eyeliner and something that caught the eye of the viewer. Here are her tips on how to use the beauty dish to create a dramatic portrait.
Step 1. Attach a Softlight Reflector White (known as a beauty dish) to a Profoto D2 1000 AirTTL. The beauty dish gives a unique light and is perfect for bringing out the beauty of the subject.
Step 2. Attach a Grid 515 mm to the beauty dish. The grid is designed to control the light spread and to bring contrast and drama to the image.
Step 3. Position the Profoto D2 close to the model and set the flash to high power.
Step 4. Use a reflector to even out the light and to lighten up the shadows a bit.
Tip
Since beauty photography is all about portraying details and to make sure all the details are in focus, it’s important to work with a small aperture so that your depth of field is not too narrow. For this image, Kate used f/20.
