I wrote an article on intro DSLR kits on Amazon. I wouldn't bother unless you bundled them with your camera.

They're definitely crappy extra toys, but they may help you learn more about photography (by showing you how things make your image quality worse); but they also were kind of fun at the beginning and encouraged me to get out and shake the bugs off and dig into learning how to shoot good photos (and how extra toys don't really help). Everyone takes shitty photos at the start anyway, so you're not missing much; and it's not a ton of extra money over grabbing a body/kit lens/good SD card; but if you already have your camera kit, you can skip it for sure.

DO NOT USE THOSE TRIPODS!

Those are strong enough for point and shoot cameras at most. Especially with a telephoto lens, the tilt arm is likely to fail and it'll fall on sensitive optical mechanics. Those are in the $10 price range. Spend at the very least closer to $30 on a tripod, and a $100-ish tripod will be a safe, and useful tool to use with your precision imaging equipment.

tl;dr - Sure, it's a waste of a little money, but they can be kind of fun toys. Burn the tripod.

Stuff I'd suggest getting:

• 2-3 nice SD cards: Class 10, 32-64 GB each
  
  
• Another few cheaper (but still fast) SD cards: 4-8 GB
  
  
• Solid tripod. $30 or $100 is well worth the money
  
  
• Rocket blower. Avoid touching the lens, whenever possible and never touch the sensor. A lens cloth should be plenty. Avoid being tempted to use a wet cleaning kit on the lens or the sensor if possible
  
  
• I love my big, cheap camera bag. I have 3 lenses, and a speedlight and this is perfect for me. I wear it across my chest and carry it on my lower back where it's out of the way and easy to deal with 95% of the time.
  
  
• An Intervalometer that matches your camera
  
  
• Manual flash that can tilt & swivel
  
  
• Flash triggers are fun and work great with those cheap $10 tripods. Check Strobist.com for great tutorials and inspiration
  
  
• Flash gels can be fun creative tools too. Can you tell I'm getting into playing with off-camera speedlights?

Speedlite holders: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JS3MINC

I own a couple of these and they are fantastic!

Gels: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00URG1C2C

No need to go with the expensive Rogue set. I love these by Selens.

Lighting gear bag:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LEE7J0U

This has been put through a bit of use and has held up great so far.


Lighting stands

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00L4YR0BS/

Speedlites

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B010XCEABO/

https://www.amazon.com/Neewer-Portable-Shooting-Speedlight-Speedlite/dp/B00UIT28FI

is one of my favorite ultra portable modifiers.

https://www.amazon.com/Opteka-OSG18-Universal-Honeycomb-External/dp/B004BFZHO4/ is great for moody focused light

https://www.amazon.com/Selens-Universal-Lighting-Filter-SE-CG20/dp/B00URG1C2C/ also will fit in a pocket and can give you some great changes to the speedlight.

Thanks!

I used two of these and this set of colors.


Easy results for under $100. around $100.

EDIT: Oh yeah, and this for my off-camera triggering system.

Love your portrait! Did you just use a black backdrop for the background?

Also is this similar to what you got on Amazon?

Ohhhh I missed that it was your photo. But yeah, aiming the flash directly at your model and getting it closer will definitely harshen the shadows. Something good to play around with is flash gels like these or any other brand and diffusers Like this. I think a yellow/gold gel with the flash above (at say, a 45 degree angle maybe) and pointing directly at your model will get a similar look to #1 and adding that diffuser would, in my opinion, reduce the negative qualities of that type of light quite a bit. Definitely mess with sharpening as well.

If it were me, I like your picture much more than #2, but to each their own of course!