Headshot advice (lighting)

I'm new to the world of shooting portraits and more specifically headshots. My son is an aspiring actor a couple years ago we did take him to have headshots done by a local pro who shoots in the Peter Hurley style, in fact he's now a Peter Hurley "associate". The results were good but my son has grown up a lot since then, his "look" is changing pretty often. I'd like to be able to shoot him as needed. Needless to say I've been studying, practicing, learning as much as possible.

I received as a Christmas gifts, a very basic Cowboy studio umbrella based continuous lighting kit (2 umbrella's, 3 stands with 3 lights) as well as a collapsible backdrop. I also have two speedlights, the Yongnuo and a Canon.

Understand that down the road getting softboxes and perhaps strobes is a possibility but for now I need to work with what I have along with DIY options.

Continuous lighting - The Cowboystudio continuous CFL's are ok. The stock bulbs just aren't very powerful causing me to have to raise the ISO more than I'd like. I have additional bulbs and can experiment more with getting some more of these lights behind the umbrella(s). The biggest issue seems to be the color the light which maybe I'm not dealing with properly.

(Examples below are just practice shots) - untouched up...etc.

Here is an example

Another example of the speedlight through an umbrella with a reflector. This guy didn't seem distracted or bothered

Try putting your light a bit farther from the camera, about 45 degrees away and a bit higher. Flashes usually will not bother most people. Talk to your son while shooting as it will keep him focused on you. Flashes are generally rated at 5400k however I have seen diffusers which are not "color corrected" raise the k temp by as much as 2000k

you could also get a gray card and use that to set a custom white balance on your camera. it's really simple to do and will take the guesswork out of it.

also check this thread i started a while ago, it's FULL of useful input on studio lighting. i don't know if there's much of a difference for headshots specifically but you can hopefully get some info out of there.
https://photography-on-the.net …read.php?t=1414​779&page=1

Thanks everyone for your replies! I'll check out the other thread and keep practicing.

The third is the best IMO, you have much less fall off from camera right to left. In the first two I would suggest feathering the light (aim the light more towards camera left) to get a better distribution (you'll not be changing the modeling).