I totally agree with Matusciac Alex - buy one, even the cheapest flash. Add some modifiers to it.
Many people think that only a softbox can be used for studio lighting. It definitely isn't true. A softbox gives you a very soft light, which is good at the very begining, because soft light is a forgiving light. Even set without much practice and knowledge, can produce satisfying results. With harsh light you have to be very precise. It's also very demanding for the model. Once you set the light, he/she has to stay within a couple of cm/inches, because once they move, the light have to moved as well.
A white shot-through umbrella also produces soft light. It cheaper then a softbox, lighter and much faster to set up. It looses some of the flashe's power, but if you intend to shoot portraits you'll rarely need more than f/8 and most of the time even less (assuming your're using a 35mm camera).
Talking about a light meter - again, I agree with what Alex said - having a digital camera you can estimate your exposure by looking at the histogram right after the shot is taken.
Having one flash, and a reflector you can produce some very good looking photos. When I started using flashes I had only one (in addition borrowed :-) ) flash and a foam core. I coudn't afford buying more lights, but as I see it now - I was lucky :-) The more lights to start with, the more confused you'll be.
My advice for the next step would be adding more light modifiers while still having only one flash. Buy a few umbrellas, reflective and shot through, white, silver, gold, mixed... If you intend to shoot portrait, a beauty dish is a small, easy to carry light modifier. It also gives nice reflections in the eyes.
When you start getting good results with soft light produced by softbox/umbrellas/beauty dish, then you can thing about using a flash with just a standard reflector (perhaps with a sheet of light diffusing foil to soften it a bit)and start experimenting with harsh light.
It's not true harsh light can't produce a good portrait(as I've read in many places). The truth is it can produce some excellent results, however you'll need a lot of practice to succeed.
I think it's not necessary to add any more suggestion here. Once you practice all I've mentioned above you'll know excactly what you need and what additional equipment you want to buy.
one more thing - don't get fooled with flash's power. You probably won't ever need 1000WS heads for portrait work. Once a flash is used at lets say 1/4 or 1/2 of full power its recycle time is very much reduced, but hey - for the beginning of flash photography even a 100-200WS flashes will give you lots of fun :-)
Help choosing a lighting kit for a beginner
in Lighting Equipment
Posted
I totally agree with Matusciac Alex - buy one, even the cheapest flash. Add some modifiers to it.
Many people think that only a softbox can be used for studio lighting. It definitely isn't true. A softbox gives you a very soft light, which is good at the very begining, because soft light is a forgiving light. Even set without much practice and knowledge, can produce satisfying results. With harsh light you have to be very precise. It's also very demanding for the model. Once you set the light, he/she has to stay within a couple of cm/inches, because once they move, the light have to moved as well.
A white shot-through umbrella also produces soft light. It cheaper then a softbox, lighter and much faster to set up. It looses some of the flashe's power, but if you intend to shoot portraits you'll rarely need more than f/8 and most of the time even less (assuming your're using a 35mm camera).
Talking about a light meter - again, I agree with what Alex said - having a digital camera you can estimate your exposure by looking at the histogram right after the shot is taken.
Having one flash, and a reflector you can produce some very good looking photos. When I started using flashes I had only one (in addition borrowed :-) ) flash and a foam core. I coudn't afford buying more lights, but as I see it now - I was lucky :-) The more lights to start with, the more confused you'll be.
My advice for the next step would be adding more light modifiers while still having only one flash. Buy a few umbrellas, reflective and shot through, white, silver, gold, mixed... If you intend to shoot portrait, a beauty dish is a small, easy to carry light modifier. It also gives nice reflections in the eyes.
When you start getting good results with soft light produced by softbox/umbrellas/beauty dish, then you can thing about using a flash with just a standard reflector (perhaps with a sheet of light diffusing foil to soften it a bit)and start experimenting with harsh light.
It's not true harsh light can't produce a good portrait(as I've read in many places). The truth is it can produce some excellent results, however you'll need a lot of practice to succeed.
I think it's not necessary to add any more suggestion here. Once you practice all I've mentioned above you'll know excactly what you need and what additional equipment you want to buy.
one more thing - don't get fooled with flash's power. You probably won't ever need 1000WS heads for portrait work. Once a flash is used at lets say 1/4 or 1/2 of full power its recycle time is very much reduced, but hey - for the beginning of flash photography even a 100-200WS flashes will give you lots of fun :-)
Hope I've helped at least a bit.
Regards, Adam.