Disclaimer [read]
by Titus Bartos
If you want to build your own studio lighting setup, you will need the following:
There are two categories of external flashes:
Hot shoe flashes - Nikon SB series, Canon EX series, etc. These flashes are designed to either go on top of your camera or to be used externally (via IR or radio). The head rotates as much as 180° each way, meaning that you can bounce the light in almost any direction you want. The hot shoe flashes are great because they are small, portable, and give you pretty much all the light you need for shooting in most situations. These flashes are sufficient for 90% of the situations including heavy duty studio work. Jump to recommended flashes.
Studio flashes (strobes) - Alien Bees, White Lighting, Profoto, Norman, etc. These flashes are larger than the hot shoe flashes, but they also give you more power, and charge faster. Some of them have built in modeling light, which means that you can see exactly how your photo will look like before you take it - this is a neat feature when learning how to light, but it's not worth the extra $$ if you are on a budget. I can tell you from my own experience that there are only a handful of situations when you would need these lights over the hot shoe flashes (read more). If you plan on using the studio strobes away from an outlet, you will also need a generator or a power pack. Jump to recommended studio strobes & accessories.
Built-in. If you have a Nikon D80, D90 or above, you already have a great wireless system built in your camera that is perfect for anything that involves two flashes and relatively small open spaces. These flashes are triggered via infrared (IR) which means that the flash has to be within visible range from the camera. If you have a Canon, you need the Canon ST-E2 or any EX series flash to act as IR transmitters. Jump to recommended flashes.
Dedicated radio triggers (also called transmitters, controllers, commanders, etc.) and receivers. If you have to shoot in large spaces or out of visible range from your flash units, you need a different type of trigger and receiver. Most of these units are superior in range and reliability than the built in system. The higher end units allow you to control the power of your flash directly from the controller, while the lower end ones don't... you have to manually increase/decrease the power of each flash you are using. Jump to recommended triggers/receivers.
Diffusers have two purposes - to soften (diffuse) the harsh light coming from a flash by making the light source much larger therefore softening the shadows, and to control how much of your subject is lit by your flash.
Umbrellas. Umbrellas are the cheapest and easiest to use diffusers. They come in some shade of white on the inside, and black cover on the outside. Some umbrellas allow you to take the black cover off, thus being able to shoot through the umbrella, rather than into it. I personally like shooting through the umbrella because it gives me increased softness. The one thing nobody told me when I decided to buy umbrellas over softboxes was that you cannot use an umbrella in a small room if you want a dark background. There is a lot of light that spills into the background when you shoot through, or into, an umbrella. Jump to recommended umbrellas & accessories.
Softboxes. Softboxes are basically a black box with white interior walls that only allow light to come out at the front end. If you have a white wall behind your subject, the wall will be significantly darker if you use a softbox rather than an umbrella. Softboxes come in different sizes and shapes (square, octagon, hexagon, rectangular, etc.) and they are ideal for almost any type of situation, but especially small spaces. Jump to recommended softboxes.
Softbox grids. These grids are designed to go on top of your softbox and they isolate the light spill even more than the softbox itself. The deeper the grid, the less light spills into the background. These grids often are offered by the softbox manufacturer as an optional accessory to the softbox.
Reflectors. Reflectors do exactly what their name says they do - they reflect light coming from any light source, and their main use is to lighten shadows on a subject. They come in different sizes and colors (silver, gold, white, etc.). I personally use 20x30" foam boards as reflectors, because they are significantly cheaper, and I can cut them to any size/shape I need (you can get those at almost any art store). Jump to recommended reflectors.
Light Stands. There are two aspects to consider when buying light stands: size and sturdiness. From experience, a 6-8 foot stand is a bit too short, especially if you are going to use it on location and you don't want to always have to open it up to its maximum. A 9 foot stand is a nice compromise in terms of size. Sturdiness comes like everything else, with money. The more you pay for your stand, the better quality you are going to get. Some stands are air cushioned, but I don't see the need for that feature on stands smaller than 9-10ft, especially if you are on a budget. Jump to recommended stands.
Flash Mounting Accessories. In order to secure the flash on a light stand, you need a flash mount, which most of the times serves as an umbrella mount as well (also called a swivel). It allows you to tilt and pan the flash in any direction. If you want to use softboxes on the stand, you will need an additional softbox mount, which most of the times is a model/brand specific type of accessory. It is very important to buy good quality mounts (metal), since your whole lighting equipment is secured to the stand with it. Jump to recommended umbrella/softbox mounts for more details on specific mounts.
Sand bags. If you are going to use light stands in public areas, outdoors, or at weddings, you will need sand bags to keep them from being knocked over by the wind or by people walking by. Some bags have a bright color, which helps people notice the light stand easier. Jump to recommended accessories.
Backdrops. Most beginner photographers think that they need a wide collection of backdrops. However, if you have a softbox, you will be able to completely isolate the subject from the background, meaning that even if you have a white background, you can make it come out black in the photos. With that in mind, the only practical backdrop you will need in the beginning is a white wall for headshots, a roll of seamless paper for full body shots, and a decent collection of color filters. You can buy it separate, or part of a backdrop system. Jump go recommended backdrops & filters.
Backdrop support systems. The easiest backdrop support system is made out of two light stands and a connecting bar to support the seamless paper. If you know that you will not move your backdrop, a permanent solution may save you a lot of space and trouble - use a backdrop holder set, which is basically a set of two metal holders that you mount directly on the ceiling. Jump to recommended backdrop systems.
There are very few times when you need a studio strobe over a flash. If you are a beginner photographer, I recommend you don't even think about it. However, if you think you can handle the extra stress, here are two situations:
1. When you need lots of power - if the background is very bright (i.e. daylight) and you want it to be darker than your subject, you will need a light source that overpowers the ambient light, which in our case comes from the sun. If the light source is relatively close (up to 10-15ft) to your subject, even a hot shoe flash will work. However, the farther away the flash is, the more power you will need in order to keep the background correctly exposed... at which point a studio strobe comes in very handy. In the same way, the larger your subject area (i.e. group of people, large object, etc.), the more power you will need as well.
2. When you are going to take repeated photos and need to light large spaces. For example, if you want to get into wedding photography and you like to light the entire reception room (a very difficult task), you will most likely need a studio strobe with a good power pack that will allow you to shoot as low as ISO400 at 1/200s and f/5.6 indoors. A hot shoe flash may allow you to do the same when shot at full power, but the recharge time on the flash is significantly longer than the studio strobe. Personally, I like exposing for the ambient and shooting with an external flash bounced into the ceiling at ISO1600, 1/30s and f/4.5 - if I have moving subjects (people dancing), the background will be slightly underexposed and blurry, while the subjects themselves will come out perfectly sharp... but then again, this is just an artistic preference.
Nikon: SB600 and SB900. The SB600 is ideal for one light type of lighting, while the SB900 is ideal for two or more. If you are just getting started, the SB600 is perfect.
Canon 430EX II, 580EX II, and the Canon ST-E2 transmitter. Just like the Nikon flashes, the 430EX II is great for one light, and the 580EX II for two or more.
Best Value - Alien Bees - B400 for small spaces, B600 for moderate to large spaces, and the B1600 if you find yourself shooting outside most of the time. The reason why you wouldn't want a B1600 indoors is because even at its lowest power setting it still gives you more light than you want, especially if you want a dark background. These flashes are very well built, have great light quality, and best of all, they are very affordable. Unless you can afford it, you really don't need to be looking for anything more expensive than the Alien Bees. Here's a link to the power pack, which from what I hear, it's very nice too.
Better Quality - White Lightning - same manufacturer as Alien Bees, except they have slightly better build quality and a built in cooler.
Still Better Quality & Higher Price - Elinchrom.
Best Quality - ProFoto - if you can afford it, Profoto lights will give you not only the best quality of light, but also the best light diffusers on the market.
If you are on a budget, and don't mind walking from flash to flash to set your flash output level, get the YongNuo wireless transmitters/receivers. They work great with both Canon and Nikon, and for $60 you have a complete wireless setup for two external flashes.
YongNuo wireless transmitters/receivers on eBay. Buy the one that is specific to your camera and you will be able to use the transmitter as a remote for the camera.
If you want the luxury of being able to change the power levels on your flash from on camera, you have two options: RadioPopper or PocketWizard. PocketWizards are currently working with Canon only and because of some frequency issues, they have some weird attachment that you have to wrap around your flash. I would skip them and buy RadioPoppers instead - they do the same thing equally good.
You will need one RadioPopper Transmitter for the camera and a RadioPopper Receiver for each flash.
PocketWizzard offer wireless TTL transmitters/receivers (power levels adjustable directly from your camera) for Canon only. You will need to buy a transmitter (MiniTT1) for the camera and one receiver (FlexTT5) for each of your flashes.
I've used Adorama and Westscott umbrellas in the past, but when I updated my diffusers, I decided to go with Photoflex, which I like much more than the Westscott.
Umbrellas
Photoflex Convertible 45" Umbrella (black cover comes off, allowing you to shoot through the umbrella)
Photoflex Adjustable 45" Umbrella (you can change the shape of the actual umbrella)
Softboxes
The OctoDome is a very nice starter softbox - it is small, collapsible, yet gives you great light for portraits. The Lastolite does the same thing, except it differs in shape (square vs. octagon), it is a bit larger, and it is slightly more expensive.
Photoflex Extra Small OctoDome NXT Kit (mount + octodome)
Photoflex Extra Small OctoDome NXT Basic Kit (mount + octodome + stand + swivel)
Lastolite 24" Ezybox with Mark II Bracket (does not include stand or swivel)
Photoflex 3' Octodome Multi Kit (mount + 36in octodome). The 3' Octodome is larger than both the OctoDome and Lastolite EzyBox. If you have a large (long) studio, the 3' is a nice upgrade.
Reflectors
You can see a list of all available reflectors at Adorama. From my experience, a white and translucent set should be enough - I rarely want to use silver or gold.
Manfrotto Umbrella/Softbox swivel
Manfrotto Light Stand - 9 foot version or 6 foot version
Sandbags at Adorama - anything that holds more than 10lb should be OK.
Backdrops
Savage Seamless Backdrop (white paper)
JTL Backdrop System (includes stands, mounts, and crossbar)
Gel Color Filters
Rosco 55 color filters for hot shoe flashes
Rosco 55 color filters + Lumiquest gel filter holder
If you use the seamless background at your studio/home, use a couple of tile boards from Home Depot on the floor to act as reflectors and to protect the white paper from getting dirty or moved.
If you have a question that I didn't address, send me an email at mail@titusbartos.com. If you are still not sure what to buy, please include your budget and what you plan on doing with your equipment. I should be able to reply within a day at the most.