Good lighting is mostly about control, and control is cheap. A few household items plus one affordable light can match what a small studio produces.
Spend on the one piece that matters, a light you can dim, and improvise everything else.
Buy a single LED panel with adjustable brightness and color temperature. That one purchase covers most of what you will shoot.
Look for a light with a softbox or a diffuser option, because a bare panel is small and hard. A large cheap soft source beats a small expensive one.
Skip the bundle with five small lights. Five small lights are still five small sources and still hard.
White foam board from an art shop costs a few dollars and bounces light into shadows. It doubles as your fill.
A white bedsheet over a lamp frame makes a large diffuser in seconds. Keep it away from hot bulbs.
Blackout fabric or a dark curtain blocks window light when you need to control the room.
A five dollar sheet of foam board has fixed more shadows than a thousand dollar light ever will.
Use one light as the key, foam board as the fill, and a small lamp or the window behind the subject for separation. That covers the three jobs for very little money.
Point the key through a diffuser and keep it close so it stays soft. Distance is free and it changes the look.
Move the foam board until the shadow side of the face still shows detail.
Shoot for a month with one light and a couple of bounce cards before you buy anything else. You will know exactly what to add and why.
When you do upgrade, buy a second light that solves a problem you can name, not one that just looks impressive in a listing photo.
The cheapest upgrade is learning where to put the light you already own.
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