Looking for lighting pointers

[markyboy.1967]

Folks, im currently doing some of my works images for their website. Its unpaid as it gives me experience.Im very new to people photography so im asking what i could have done to help these images more.

The next batch of images im doing next month are on a white/grey background using a Lastolite hilite and my 3 lencarta heads ( will use less if possible so not to complicate matters ). I have been practicing with the hilite and can light it pretty decently with 1 light but what im asking is what i can do to make the subjects look better.

I have an octabox, shoot through and reflective umbrellas.

 

[bryan elliott]

The first thing I notice is your key light is too low in all the pictures, so technically there not right, also the way in which you light a female is different to a male, if you want to make the images stand out then introduce a background/separation light

 

[Phil V]

Aside from the keylight which should be higher and closer:
The 2 blokes; Is the light on the rhs supposed to be fill or a separation light?

Fill should come from the front and separation should create a rim light, that lights just creating an odd highlight on their faces. The pictures would be better without it.

It's difficult to know what you were aiming for with the girl, it's a bit between stools?

I'd suggest a different outfit, a wrap or flagging the light, there's too much big white arm, most women would hate that, she's far from fat but women are paranoid about that kind of thing. The pose / angle probably needs more work that the lighting on that shot. But again, it depends what you were going for:shrug:.

 

[markyboy.1967]

Cheers folks that's exactly what I wanted to know. I kind of suspected that the key light wasn't high enough so I will take it one step at a time and adjust that key light. After that I will slowly add another light trying different angles to see what works for me.