For my indoor studio I use a very affordable brand called Alien Bees, a ringlight studio flash unit with a 60”
moon light. These are made by Paul Buff based in Nashville. I love their very large umbrellas too. The rea-
son you want a giant size is that these puppies throw a massive soft light from head to toe. This soft light is
beautiful, and will make a difference in your photography. Several companies make sizes all the way up
to 80 inches, thats a big softbox! Note: I don’t bring this kind of gear to a wedding, I use my speedlites and
Gary Fong flash diffusers.
The very best studio lights are made by Profoto, and I’ve used their gear many times. I usually rent their
gear for bigger professional shoots. For a more affordable alternative, I love my Alien Bees, the build quality
is not as good as Profoto, but I tend to take care of my gear, and it lasts a long time for my studio uses.
For my studio I prefer Alien Bees studio flash units with the 60” moon light kit, and for location shooting I use
a Profoto kit with umbrella kits and a variety of snoots. I also use a 4x6 ft Sunbounce reflector and several
36’ round reflector diffusers, and several 54” scrims, some cookies, flags, white foamcore boards and black
foamcore boards, and a hand full of a clamps, c stands and lightweight lighting stands. I also have several
backdrop stands, and lots of backdrops that I own. My go to background for the studio is a roll of white
vinyl, and a roll of grey. I keep several tripods as well, even though I shoot mainly handheld. For my studio I
use a low cost set of Pixel King flash triggers, they perform very well with both speedlites and studio lights.