1 Light, 1 umbrella, and a lot of possibilities

If you’re new to shooting with artificial light, it can be a bit overwhelming when you first start doing some research. As soon as you look online for what your options are, you’re gonna see dozens of different kinds of modifiers, different kinds of lights, different brands, and a huge range in price. So where are you supposed to start? For most people, it’s the budget. Whatever the budget will allow, that’s where they start, and I’ve been there! For this discussion and demonstration, I wanted to show you what you could do with a very affordable and compact lighting setup. Using just a small umbrella and a budget brand speedlight, you have more possibilities than you might think. The placement and angle of the light is far more crucial than what brand you should buy. Getting some actual hands on practice with whatever gear you can afford goes a long, long way.
You can see in the video that just moving my light around and changing the direction of the light, I was able to get some different results that are easily repeatable and can add some variety to your arsenal. So grab whatever you can and start working. Start practicing. Start experimenting. You have plenty of choices with very little gear.