A lighting test with my wife...

I'm seeking a constructive criticism strictly for my lighting on below picture. No efforts (no makeup, no hairstyle, etc...) were attended to the model as I simply just wanted to continue testing my lighting techniques.

Lighting information is as follow.

2 x 580EXII with shoot thru umbrella on camera left (just a little above model's face) and right (little higher than the left umbrella and more towards the middle of model). They were both triggered via PW Flex TT5s in ETTL mode with +1 FEC on both flashes. I also had a reflector at 45 degrees from bottom front of the model.

Thanks in advance!

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here show us what you did http://www.lightingdia​grams.com/Creator

I guess it looks something like this?

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FWIW shoot through brollies spread the light. Looking at the shot (1) there are highlights on her nose which aren't flattering. (2) lighting on the hair looks nice, though. (3) you often look for highlights in the eye at 11 o'clock, but they aren't visible, the eyes look flatly lit. Put the light high and aimed down. Perhaps try one light and a reflector instead, or 2 lights and a reflector to bounce the light up under the chin. Hope for a patient and understanding wife!

Thank you for your input! Great advice and I do hope my wife continues to be patient with me...

How about the lighting on this one? Basically the same setup but without the reflector.

Wife wasn't up to it last night, so tested on myself...

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its much better but you must of changed something other than the reflector

LOL, you caught me! I took out the reflector and also slightly changed the positions (and heights) of the 2 umbrellas... and thinking about it again now, I think I was possibly at +2 FEC on the first shot (since it does look blown out), but used +1 FEC for last night's shot.

That's much better. Next time, think about the pose. This looks like a passport picture. Position the shoulders at an angle to the camera, turn the head to the lens as a starting point.

On both of these, the lighting looks too even. Generally, you get better results with women when you use short lighting. Also, be conscious of where she parts her hair, as it is casting a shadow on her face. If the key light was camera left and the fill was 1-2 stops less than the key, you would have had a better result. Also, with the umbrellas, you shouldn't have much of a true shadow on her face which makes me think the umbrellas were too close to her.

In the second shot the light placement looks much better, but the light levels are just too even.

Thank you Hannya and moeronn for your valuable input. I will consider both of your advices next time!