To get the quality of studio pictures without the studio price, you need to look into economic alternatives to studio lighting. I’ve taken the Speedlite approach to this. Up until very recently Canon flashes have not had PC sync capability, but at over $400 a pop the Canon speedlite method feels a little pricey. And you would still need accessories (stands) and light modifiers (umbrellas).
My suggestion would have normally been to check ebay for old Nikon SB-24s or 28s. I personally own a Nikon SB-28 setup which is my portable studio and I didn’t spend more than $500 for it including the most expensive element: the wireless transmitter. But you don’t necessarily need one if you’ll primarily be using the setup for indoor studio shots. The Nikons are normally around $100 but good luck finding them on ebay nowadays.
My recommendation would be to visit B&Hphoto.com or Adorama.com and look up the Vivitar 285HV. It costs $89 brand new and it’s powerful enough to get the job done. After that you need a light stand, a light stand adapter with a cold shoe and a no-less-than 40-something inch white umbrella. Then you’ll need a simple PC sync cord to trigger the strobe (strobe and flash are interchangeable nomenclature). I doubt the entire setup will cost more than $250.
All you’d need then are AA batteries.
You could spend a little more money and also get a flash bracket so you can take the setup on the road (since it is unwise to mount the flash onto your Canon camera as they operate on different voltages and one would fry the other). Maybe get one of those tiny softboxes for shoe-mount flashes or one of those omnibounces or the Gary Fong Lightsphere. Best part is all these options are relatively inexpensive. AND they work.
So why did my investment end up at $500? Because instead of going PC sync I went with the PocketWizard Plus II wireless transmitter option. I had to get two because you need a transmitter and a receiver for the initial setup. And each costs $187. But in the long run it’s better for what I do since I take mine with me everywhere, I use long lenses for portrait work and I don’t want to trip over wires…expensive, flimsy wires which ultimately need to be replaced far more frequently than I’d like. So I made the expensive plunge and haven’t regretted it at all. And they also run on AA batteries.
So I would personally recommend the PocketWizard option and for a little bit more than a new SpeedLite which would still result in pedestrian snapshots, you’ll get awesome, studio quality portraits of your beautiful daughter.
Another option, go PC sync and for the same price as the PocketWizard option, you can get twice the equipment. However, I don’t recommend this because for a beginner, one flash is ALREADY too much to worry about. Besides, I do all my work as a one strobe pony and I’m fine so far.
Check these out:
1. 
2. 
3. 
4. 
I took these photos with my $500 wireless-triggered Nikon SB-28 off-camera flash setup. You can see the setup making a cameo in the fourth picture. The only thing missing from anything I’ve mentioned in this post is a reflector (which fills in shadows). Look at how harsh the shadows are in #3 and #4 and how #1 and #2 have detail in the shadow area because of my use of a reflector.
Here’s a look at the setup of #2:
See the use of the reflector with the bare strobe? Reflectors are an excellent investment. You can get a nice 30-something inch five-in-one reflector for about $25. For the money you’re saving already, I’d say go for it. You can even get the huge collapsible background I use for around $130. So already, you’ve spent $370 with everything except the PocketWizards. But you’re still triggering via PC sync cord which should be okay until you upgrade (and you’ll want to later). And since we’re talking about wireless I’m going to recommend you not go with the cheap eBay alternative. You get what you pay for and in this case it’s flimsy at best.
Now that I’ve given you a bunch of pointers here’s what you should do:
Go to Strobist.com and read up on off-camera flash technique, DIY adventures and tons of thrifty, working examples for awesome photos that are worthy of publish. Pretty soon your daughter’s friends are going to hire you to take their photos.
So I guess the next lesson will need to be on portrait lenses, huh?
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