A beautiful portrait is easily ruined with excessive shine on the subject’s forehead, usually caused by a beauty dish. Knowing where to position the beauty dish will fix this problem. Here’s how to fix shine on a portrait before or after the photo is taken.
How to position a beauty dish to avoid shine
When I first started using a beauty dish — like many — my subjects had a horrible shine on their foreheads. At first, I thought the subject just had oily skin, which caused the shine. It wasn’t until I positioned the beauty dish very close to the subject — causing the shine to spread nicely across the subject — that I realized I was using the beauty dish wrong all this time.
I was using it as a traditional softbox. You know, up high a few feet in front of the subject on a 45-degree angle. Using a beauty dish like this caused it to be a small light source that produced harsh light causing the unflattering shine. Once I positioned the beauty dish very close to the subject, the excessive shine problem was solved.
Using Luminar to fix shine on a portrait
This is a very easy fix. Select the AI Skin Enhancement tool from the Portrait tools. Check Remove Skin Defects to remove any blemishes, and adjust the Amount slider until the subject’s skin looks nice. Now, adjust the Shine Removal slider until the shine magically disappears. It’s that simple.
How to fix excessive shine
If there is excessive shine, add a New Adjustment Layer from the Layers tool and apply the Skin Enhance tool again. Adjust the Shine Removal slider until the shine disappears.
So the next time you photograph a subject with a beauty dish, make sure you position the beauty dish as close to the subject as possible. If unwanted shines appear, try your best to fix it while you are shooting. If the problem persists, know you can easily fix it in Luminar with by adjusting a single slider.
