How to Buy Studio Lighting?

I am pretty much an amateur photographer, but I would like to buy some studio lighting to set up in my garage (the big flashes, stands, bulbs, etc...) but not sure where or what to buy. I do know (what I have been told) is that I should buy 3 lights and 2 of them should be one wattage and the other bulb should be 1/2 that wattage? or something like that. Can anyone tell me where the best place to buy possible a starter kit (somehow) or at least what I should be looking to buy. I want it basically to take at home potraits of my family & friends. Thank You...Angie

I would recommend that you read the posts in this forum first before you buy anything at all. Most of what you want to know is in previous posts as this has been covered fairly well. Once you then get that in your head and confuse yourself even more, you will have a better understanding of what questions and the answers you get mean.

One, if you think you need three lights then get two lights and a reflector. More light doesn't equate to better results.

What I did was rent different light systems from the local pro shop, and came up with the Profoto 7b system. Having a battery pack allows me to control the amount of power to the lamps precisely. Before I bought these lights, it was worth the money to rent them.

I used to have Elinchrom lamps, two 500W and one 250W lamps and I probably never used more than two lamps a majority of the time.

Loren