Bought some Alien Bees D400 Strobes recently - in a kit form. Two of the strobes, two umbrellas, two stands. $600 or so with all the tax, shipping and whatnot.
Paul C. Buff makes these things. They're pretty straightforward. I'm no professional, but if you're a hobbyist they're reasonably priced and certainly add a considerable amount of flexibility to your range of strobe photography. Go buy some (if you feel up to it) at Alien Bees. Of course, then you'll have a house full of equipment - and you'll want to buy a background with something to hang it from. I bought a simple black and a simple white background and a bit of kit to hold it up with. Hopefully the fiancee will permit me to post some of her better pictures when she's up for it.
I recently bought a Sekonic flash meter, the L-358 model. I should have invested in a standalone meter ages ago. Again, as a hobbyist, I'm not going to provide a lot of useful information comparing this product to others - but it works reasonably well for what I need, and as far as build quality and general usability go - it certainly gets the work done.
Finally, I have a folding reflector - gold, silver, white. Something else you'll forget to pack when you go to the park - but if you manage to remember it, you'll take much better photos of someone than without. Using this to fill in the short side of the face in a portrait is great, rather than relying entirely on the environmental reflection or shooting a flat-face shot. An on-camera fill flash can only do so much and mostly results in a shiny forehead if the internal metering is not good.
I find that I enjoy portrait photography a great deal. Of course - why not? You get to take flattering photos of your special other! Naturally! As I get better I expect I'll enjoy shooting photos of just about anyone foolish to sit there long enough, if only because the combination of technique and pose are interesting puzzles to work out, and giving someone a nicely done photo of themselves is a great gift.
You may be thinking that this is horrific overkill for a hobby, and you're right.
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