morgan_moore
Major Contributor
I agree with everything you say but I thought the OP said he didn't have any flash? It is possible to do this with a speedlight or similar, it doesn't have to be a mains powered monoblock because the amounts of flash used are quite small.
The Vivitar 283 with manual control wheel which can be found in Cashconverters for £9 - it is bright and within the budget of most people who occasionally have a coffee.
I use..
Small: Vivitar 283
Medium: QFlash
Large: Elinchrom 500
All very dated now and cheap.
More costly is I drive them with Pocket Wizards but in my yoof used $10 synch cables.
S