Our beauty editorial for Madame Germany and the setup behind it, rebuilt in 3D.
That was the brief for this beauty story, shot for Madame Germany. The light also had to work for commercial jobs. So we kept it simple: one beauty dish, a big frame of fabric in front of it, and a small fill from the other side.
A beauty dish is a wide, shallow reflector with a small plate in the middle. The plate blocks the direct flash, so the light bounces off the white inside and leaves the dish as one round, defined source. You get crisp highlights, a fast roll-off into shadow and a round catchlight in the eyes. Fired through a diffusion frame, it softens for skin but keeps its punch.
The exact setup from the shoot, rebuilt in 3D. Pick a step to switch the lights on one by one.
Small moves of the frame change everything. A few degrees and the shine slides across the lips and the stones.
Three classic beauty lights and what each one does to a face.
Classic butterfly light puts the dish straight in front of the model, above the camera. Clamshell adds a fill from below, so the two sources open like a shell around the face. Our setup moves the key to the side and keeps the fill low. It keeps the glow of a clamshell but gives the face more shape and a more editorial feel.
Through the frame the light flatters skin. Take the frame away and you get harder, more graphic highlights.
It lifts the shadows and nothing more. If you can see where it comes from, it is too strong.
Turn the frame a few degrees and watch the highlights move across lips, rings and stones.
A pale backdrop keeps the eye on skin and product and leaves the colour open for the grade.
Members get this setup the way we use it on set, with every detail we left out here.
Most beauty work is done with a dish of around 50 to 70 cm. Smaller dishes give harder light, larger ones are softer. Distance matters as much as size: the closer the dish, the softer the light.
A grid narrows the light and keeps it off the background. A diffusion sock or, as here, a frame in front makes the light softer and kinder to skin.
Yes. Put the dish centred above the camera, angled down toward the face, and add a white reflector or a second light below the chin. That is the classic clamshell for beauty.
Yes. We built it for an editorial, but the light is even enough for cosmetics and jewellery campaigns, where the product has to read clearly.
60+ lighting setups from editorials and campaigns
