Flash Guide 6: Purchasing Lighting Equipment

1 light + reflector

One light and a reflector or diffusion cloth are enough for many purposes, both for portraits and simple product photography. You can take classic, beautiful portraits with just one light, and you can start product photography with just one light. Add a little creativity and 1-2 reflectors to this. The most important thing is to know your own tool and the light.

Once you get a feel for the world of flash equipment and get to know your own tools, it's a good idea to expand this to multiple light sets.

That is, one light acts as the main light and a reflector is used to open up shadows or, if necessary, a black reflector to darken the subject. The size of the reflector depends on the subject being photographed. For small subjects, a small reflector is sufficient, and for larger subjects, a correspondingly larger reflective surface is required.

You can think of a reflector as a single light and also as a light shaper and light limiter. Many reflectors include a so-called diffusion fabric, i.e. a translucent material, which also works great as a light shaper, softening the light from the flash. It helps you create a painterly look in your photo.

If you want to simulate the soft, filtered light of the sun in your lighting, you can use a flash without any light modifiers and bounce the light raw off a white ceiling or walls to illuminate your subject. This lighting is easy to achieve and the result is beautiful.

Beginner's package, budget under €500

One flash for your home studio

An affordable, strong and reliable mains-powered light for those of you who don't gig and don't need wireless lighting equipment. This is a good place to start expanding your equipment and if necessary, it's easy to expand with small or larger lights, both battery-powered and mains-powered. Also an excellent choice for a small studio.

Flash:

Godox DP400III-V - studio flash with mains power

Transmitter:

Godox Xpro- Trigger (there are separate triggers for different camera brands) €109

From the lamp base:

Godox 290 F Heavy Duty light stand €70

Reflector:

Godox Collapsible 5-In-1 Reflector 110 cm €30

A Speedlite flash for a gigging photographer

You do small photo shoots, magazine shoots, basic portraits and need a small light in your equipment that can easily travel with you when working on the move. A Speedlite is also an excellent choice for a beginner photographer!

Speedlites are the best friends of the photographer on the go, they are lightweight and compact portable tools, you can use them attached to the camera's hot shoe or, even better, you can use the flash remotely from the camera by controlling it with a transmitter attached to the camera. There are small light modifiers available for the lights as well as adapters that can also be used to attach larger softboxes and umbrellas to the lights.

When purchasing a softbox, however, keep in mind that the light output of a speedlite is lower, so the light modifier should not be very large. We also recommend checking out mini softboxes for handheld flashes, which can be carried discreetly on shooting gigs.