The thought of setting up a home studio with lights can seem a scary prospect though. But relax, studio flash is no black art, just a combination of basic lighting principles and camera skills, while the kit you need has got much cheaper and easier to use. And it’s entirely up to you what kit you buy and how much you spend. You can get away with using a large polystyrene board as a reflector, or fork out for an almost life-size softbox.

Presuming you’re eager to save money, the best place to start is with a home studio flash kit. A kit like this offer a range of benefits. First, it gives you control over the exposure. The high flash power means that you can use lower ISOs and consequently produce images with less noise.

Second, a studio flash kit effectively gives you control over depth of field, as increasing or decreasing the power lets you open or close your aperture.

The biggest advantage, however, is the control that studio flash gives you over the quality of light. You can choose whether it’s diffuse or harsh, spread wide or in a narrow beam, and you can choose to have it emitting from any angle.