John Duder explains how to create an effective studio flash set-up that's simple and inexpensive.
Posted: 30/06/2025 - 13:55
If you read all the reviews of the latest studio equipment, you may have the impression that starting to use serious flash equipment costs a lot of money. This isn't necessarily the case: you can begin with one flash unit, one stand, and a couple of light modifiers. And all of these can be secondhand.
Admittedly in a studio - but lit with a single large softbox, giving soft, overall light. Model: Ashley Ashton; Studio: ARB Studios, Longton, Stoke-on-Trent.
The joy of using mains powered flash units is that you can work at smaller apertures, so that focusing is not an issue. If you work with continuous light sources, you will need to use higher ISO settings and wider apertures to get really good pictures. An old Bowens flash unit and a stand will cost you under £200, and you can get cheap, effective light modifiers for modest prices, too.
A pair of Bowens Gemini lights on stands, with a reflector and honeycomb grid (left) and a softbox (right). The sturdier stand on the left is more stable, but as long as you make sure the legs are spread as wide as possible, even quite lightweight stands can work perfectly well.
For a photographic background, an ordinary front room will do, providing it isn't too cluttered: you can produce a do-it-yourself plain backdrop from cheap cloth and a couple of clothes hangers. The important thing is that the background should not be cluttered so that it intrudes on the picture's main subject, unless you are deliberately shooting an environmental portrait. In a larger space you can use the inverse square law to darken the background and reduce its impact. Wily composition, and careful ‘weeding' of objects behind the sitter can make the most of any room.
A makeshift backdrop. Confining yourself to shooting heads and half-length pictures means that you can work in quite confined spaces. It’s fine to worry about creases and straightness, but don’t get bothered by the surroundings. What’s outside the frame doesn’t exist in the picture!
However, in most houses space is quite limited, and this means that it's probably a good idea to concentrate on the subject's upper half, rather than trying to shoot a full length portrait. Most of the time, it pays to make the face a major part of the composition, rather than letting it be overwhelmed by limbs and background.
Different flash units use different modelling lamps: there is some degree of interchangeability, but one size definitely doesn't fit all. Physical space in the unit and heat generated can both be issues. The unit on the right uses an LED, visible as a yellow spot in the centre. This is increasingly common on new units.
Older studio flash units use overrun incandescent lamps for modelling lights, increasing power consumption but also giving a better idea of what the finished picture will look like than their more modern LED equivalents. Equally, the more modern units will have complex menus and offer a lot of options that many people will not find useful – high speed synchronisation, multiple flashes, and TTL metering. The joy of older units is that they are simple to control, with each button or knob performing a single function. This makes understanding what's going on far, far simpler!
A light meter - or simply use the histogram on the back of the camera to judge exposure.
Back when I used film all the time a light meter was essential for working in the studio. These days the instant review and the absolutely tiny cost of an extra frame or two means that I can take a ‘suck it and see' approach to exposure. It's sensible to look at the histogram view, because images usually look brighter on the camera back than they are in reality.
As well as the flash you will need a trigger unit. Like flash units these vary in sophistication, and one that is simple and will fit any hot shoe is far preferable to those dedicated to one brand of camera. In any case the kind of older flash unit that I am suggesting you might want to buy will not respond to a modern trigger. Good news again with the price you can expect to pay between £15 and £30 for a brand new trigger set.
A basic trigger unit. Note the little adaptor to allow use with newer kit lacking the full-size Post Office jackplug. Prolinca and older Elinchrom units use a more complicated screw-in fitting.
I mentioned light modifiers. These can be very simple and many flash units come equipped with a 7 inch reflector. This will give quite a harsh light, and hard edge shadows, but can be very good for giving dramatic lighting effects For softer portraits, its most common to use something called a soft box which gives more diffuse light and softer shadows. These can vary in size, and the softness of the shadows is directly related to the size of the soft box and its closeness to the subject.
Once you start on the path of using studio lighting, you are likely to find that you want to expand your outfit. A single light is quite good enough for making a start and you will be surprised at the number of different effects that you can achieve by changing the positioning of the light, and by using the two sorts of modifier I have described.
"How many modifiers do I need?" is as useful a question as "How many lenses should I have?" In both cases, I find a personal answer is "rather fewer than I actually own". My wife disagrees, hence storage in the garage…
If you have never used a studio flash the whole thing may seem quite daunting. However, once you have shot with this sort of equipment once you are likely to want to continue doing so. Many camera clubs will have their own equipment, and there are studios for hire all over the country. Once upon a time, it was a matter of looking at the small ads in the back of Practical Photography or Amateur Photographer – is a bit harder now. An internet search may help, talking in camera shops may turn one up, but if you have a small portfolio it's worth joining a website like Purpleport where you can find a vast variety of studios all over the country. If you go along to a hire studio, and spend an hour talking through the light units and how to use them, it'll be well worth the extra cost of around £30 (an average studio hire rate).
Flash Lighting
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