Photography Lighting KitsThe variety of photography lighting kits and related equipment that is available to you is staggering. You may ask yourself what is the best direction to go in. Like other tips for taking digital photography, it is all about what you are trying to accomplish with your photography.
The reason is not because it is the best around, but rather because that is what the company I used to work with supplied to it's portrait photographers. Novatron offers lightweight, portable studio flash lighting equipment that is easy to assemble and quite durable. In the almost 20 years that I've worked on my own, I may have replaced one Novatron flash bulb and perhaps two power cords. The two light umbrella system is "safe" to use to create pleasant portrait lighting as well as shadowless product photography. Understand a few simple two umbrella lighting techniques and you can create beautiful portraits. Of course with photography , there are three main areas to master: (1)-Understanding your digital camera and it's settings, (2)-using good composition tips and then (3)-learning good photography lighting.
This big photography lighting kit pictured on the left uses light heads that each contain their own small power pack. If you have enough room in your photography area or your own photo studio, large systems make sense. With location photography, you'll want something more light weight and easy to set up. I've used the same 600 watt-second Novatron power pack for large groups of 150 people as well as individual head shots of business executives and high school seniors. The advantage of having such a powerful piece of equipment is that I can use a low power setting on it and the flash will recycle extremely quickly. This means I won't miss a shot while waiting for the flash to recharge.
You can buy lighting equipment that use daylight balanced bulbs and are continuous-that is to say, they are not flashes. They are light weight and ridiculously affordable. The photo lighting kits listed below are very highly rated by Amazon customers. I personally have trust in Amazon and am a frequent purchaser from them. One other point is that they are not as bright as using electronic flash. This is not a big deal unless you are doing photography of a large group or a moving target. You can always use a higher ISO setting or brighter bulbs to get a higher shutter speed to prevent motion blur. If this is a little confusing, here is an article on Photo Exposure Tips Photography Lighting Systems. What kind of photography lighting systems might be right for you. Here are some pros and cons on different equipment systems. Back from Photography Lighting Kits to Photography Lighting |
I've been a portrait photographer for over 25 years and have used photography light kits made by Novatron. 
The Novatron lighting kit pictured above uses a power pack and separate light heads that plug into the pack. 
Now that digital camera sensors have advanced so much, low power and even continuous light source photography lighting kits are a great option.