Nikon D60 flash unit?

I have a Nikon D60 and I'm fairly new to DSLR photography. I'm not happy with the way my portrait photos come out with my built in flash. What flash unit would you recommend for this camera?

A nice umbrella diffuser and the SB900 would be a good start. Also research Alien Bee, Bowens and Novatron.

See this site

http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/02/welcome-to-strobist.html

This site is all about taking your flash off camera and the use of cheap manual flashguns synced usually with radio syncs such as the RF-602.

This technique is Manual everything, Manual Mode on your camera and Manual flash. It works like this to get total control.

With flash photography you are actually taking two exposures simultaneously, the Ambient exposure and the Flash light exposure. In full manual you can control both independently.

Shutter speed effects just the ambient, the flash duration is so short (1/1000th of a second or faster) that shutter speed has no effect on the Flash component.

Flash power, flash to subject distance and any light modifiers on the flash (soft-boxes etc.) effects just the Flash component.

ISO and Aperture effect both equally.

With this knowledge you can get exactly the blend of Ambient to Flash you want.

Initially it's a lot slower to work this way, but you soon get into it, a flash meter helps to give you spot on exposures.

The other way is TTL, flashguns are a lot more expensive (4 times the price of a Manual flash), they are great for 'Fill In' flash shots on Auto, but to get total control they are a little 'mind bending' and some effects you just can't get. All of them can be used manually.

For TTL check out Metz, they will do everything that Nikon flash will do, are well built, and are cheaper.

I agree that the SB-900 is a great unit, but if that's too rich for your blood, look at the SB-700.

The D60 does not have commander mode, but if you ever upgrade your body, your new camera most likely will have it. It's nice to be inside the Nikon family if that happens for you. You can start off-camera flash with no additional purchases.

Get the flash OFF camera! That means an external speedlight, plus some radio triggers to fire it.

I'd not particularly recommend a Nikon speedlight - for one thing, your D60 does not have a built in commander mode, so you won't have TTL control off camera anyway.

A good cheap manual flash is the Yongnuo 560 - about £60. A set of radio triggers (RF602's). Costs around £25.

On camera flash is hard, flat light because (a) it's on axis and (b) its a small light source. By using flash off camera, you get directionality, which allows you to play with light and shadow (which helps to define shape & form).
Next you have to consider making your small speedlight bigger. Why? Because the bigger the light source (relative to the subject) the softer the light. That means getting an umbrella or softbox to fire it through.

A light stand plus an umbrella or softbox would set you back about £55.

The Strobist blog is a great resource - have a look at the video a short way down this page, which tells you about modifiers & off camera light;
http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/03/lighting-101.html