There are three major categories when it comes to lighting equipment. First there is light sources with their own two subcategories.  There is one option to get a kit with a flash head and power pack or a monolight kit. With the power packs, symmetric power splits the power evenly between multiple flash heads and Asymmetric power packs allow the user to vary the power supply to different flash heads. A substitute for these options would be a monolight and because of their size it does limit their power but its convenient for portability. Most strobe lights allow you to completely remove the reflector and attach different kinds of light modifiers. With new light equipment, it’ll be harder to control to your needs that is where light modifiers help.

Next, a light modifier has two most common types, umbrellas and softboxes.  The umbrella face away from the subject, the flash faces the inside of the umbrella and that light bounces back to the subject. A sliver lines umbrellas is most efficient, a white lined umbrella have a wider light option, and gold lined umbrella produce a warmer tone. With softboxes they are a reflective inside and a translucent front that are attached to the front the strobe covering where the light emits. The difference between these two modifiers is the spread of light, where softboxes are more contained and umbrellas have a more spill effect. There are other different types of light modifiers like, barndoors, snoots, honeycomb grids, and flags. All with different focus in lights and ranging in harshness. Now with the light equipment and modifier a stand is necessary.

There are two main stands, a lightweight stand and a C-stand. Both stands vary in size and both usually have adjustable heights. Now with a lightweight stand with a wider footprint it  makes for a more stable light stand. C-stands are very stable and good plus are heavy duty. This type of stand is typically seen in the video industry and can have a lot of attachments to them. Both are used for are used to support your light sources, strobes, and even light modifiers or backdrops and they both do great jobs in their own ways.