Stands and grips are used to support your light sources, strobes, and even light modifiers or backdrops.
Professional studio light sources generally fall into one of two categories: you can get a kit with a flash head and a power pack, or you can get a monolight kit.
Monolights come with the controls built directly into the light itself.
The most common types of light modifiers are umbrellas and softboxes.
Softboxes on the other hand are usually square or rectangular.
The difference between reflecting umbrellas and softboxes is that the spread of light with a softbox is more contained. With an umbrella on the other hand, light can spill beyond the boundaries of the reflective surface affecting the amount of light getting back to the subject.
White umbrellas offer a wider spread of reflected light, and gold umbrellas produce a warm tone.
Light emitted from the strobe head gets reflected inside the walls of the softbox and diffused through the box’s translucent front creating a soft, but more focused light source illuminating the model or scene.
Lighting equipment can be very expensive.
Having all the controls on the power pack makes it easier to change the settings of multiple flash heads in one place quickly.