Lighting advice

[joel222]

I recieved my first lighting today, two translucent umbrellas. I set up with each light either side of my subject at about 45 degrees, with 1 level and the other shooting down on him. I've took a few pics but I'm not totally happy with the result. I know I need to learn and can't expect great shots straight away but can anyone advise me or give me a few tips on how to improve. The best of the pics is below so that you can see what I mean.

 

[Al Brum]

The lights look like they were at the same power. Set one about 2 stops less than the other and experiment from there.

 

[HopefulM]

don't forget - shutter speed controls ambient light...

so to darken the background, make the shutter speed faster, and to reduce the effect of the flash, make the aperture smaller.