Please critique my lighting on these.

These were lit with a single strobe in an 86" PLM. I'm not sure I'm getting the ideal light placement but I'll provide more details after some comments (hopefully I get some).

1

That is about as bland as you could possibly make it. Were you aware that it is shadows combined with the light that create the 3 dimensional look? Whatever you are doing it is too flat.

*************Studio Portrait Lighting**************​*
Tutorial on Studio Portrait Lighting Using Two Lights, with Emphasis on Rembrandt Lighting:
http://www.zaffora.com​/W9DMK/PortraitLightin​g.htm
or the downloadable PDF version at:
http://www.zaffora.com​/W9DMK/PortraitLightin​g.pdf

Also see this helpful reference:
http://en.wikipedia.or​g/wiki/Rembrandt_light​ing

Thanks Bob. The light was almost right behind the camera. I assume that is what lead to the flatness. I also think it was too low. Thanks for the references!

Hope you dont mind. Thought I would adjust one of these a bit. I just brought the mids down a little, cropped out the pink belt I thought it was distracting me from the focal point, her face, took away some of the reds, pumped up the contrast a touch and used just a small amount of sharpening. See what you think. What a great shot you got of her. Nice picture.

HOSTED PHOTO
please log in to view hosted photos in full size.

I think this edit makes her too pink.it the lighting itself that needs to be fixed, not so much anything else?

I don't find #1 bland at all. I really like the subtle shading that is still visible in #1. However, I must agree with Robert_Lay on #2.

thanks... I like #1 a lot better as well.

I'm with Bob and Flo. The lighting is too flat on both of these shots.

Raise your light. Place another light below your camera. Adjust the ratio so that the upper light is twice as bright as the lower. 2:1 ratio...maybe a little less.
You can also use one light high to one side and the other near your lens. The lens light will be the fill (dimmer). Experiment till you get something you like. An incident meter will be invaluable for setting the ratios.

Thanks... I was shooting for a single light shot but I think raising it and getting it off axis would have helped.

You can use ambient or the sun for your fill or your main light. The trick is too make the difference between your main light and your fill light what you want.