I see lots of people asking for advice on different photo forums on the subject of buying their first set of studio flashes or even flases for their cameras.
I had the same question running thru many decades ago . As I see these questions pop up on the various forums, I remember a conversation with reknown Santa Monica Photographer, Peter Gowland...around 1982.
I desparately wantred a set of studio flashes and I loved the work he showed in the many books he and his wife (Alice) had written. In one of the books I saw his phone number........I thought, this cannot be his private number, not published in a book for millions of people to see and use.......could it. A few days later, Friday nite or Saturday night I called the number....it is ringing and then a soft spoken man answered, Peter Gowland Residence............long Pause.......Hello.....finall I choked out this is Arthur Scott calling from Wichita Ks....Is this really Peter Gowland the photographer that writes books on Glamour Photography............He replied Yes it is, How may I help you.....so I had a list of questions written down for better explanation of some of his set ups and tips......then I hit the big question........What should I get for my first light set up. His answer was simple:
1- buy the most powerful flash you can afford
2- Buy at least 3 of them: 2 for front light and 1 for back light, make sure they are all the same brand & model; that way when setting up it won't matter where the lights go.
3- buy a black background and some theatrical gels to color the background
4- the cheapest good flash meter is the Wein 500......I bought the Wein 1000.
5-Would you like some of my posing guides?????? My question was HOW Much are they?? Well How many children do you have?? Me: 3............Mr. Gowland: I'll send you 5 Free........in the background you hear......FREEEEEEE!!!!!! PETER!!!!!!!! WHAT DO YOU MEAN FREE?? IT IS TAX TIME YOU CAN'T JUST GIVE THOSE AWAY!!!!
Mr. Gowland......Ah she'll get over it......I want to help out.....what is your address??
In 3 days I had a manilla envelope from him with 5 large posing guides.....actually they were his print catalogs and 90% of his work was nudes........he had a little note inside telling me to watch out for those Bible Thumpers we have here in the Mid west and don't get into trouble with his catalogs as they might view it as porn here LOL LOL LOL .
He finsihed by telling me if I should ever get to Santa Monica to stop by and to send him my very first portrait done when I got my lights and backdrop.
I did send him my first portrait of my son. He wrote back saying to do this and this and this and it woulod be great and all I needed was more room and more lights............
He was so very helpful, ihaven't got to meet him yet.....I hope I can before he is gone.
So that is pretty much the same advice i give to all that I see asking that question.....no matter how many times I see the question I answer it...............others say search the forum it has been answered over and over again.......like it is too strainious to type a little and help someone out......99%of all forum searches give you tons of threads filled with non pertinent info and then you have to wade thru those to find the one that has your answer.............
have a good night and great week
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