For years, I have been shooting solely with available light; I like the softness, the wrap-around effect and the deeper saturation (if choose to). The downside of shooting with available light is that I shoot less especially in the winter. Two months ago I started thinking about shooting with studio lighting but didn’t want to spend the money without knowing if I would like it, so I made the lights myself (yes, myself and from scratch). This is a testing picture, with two home-made lights (made from 6 CFL totaling about 160W per light), positioned left and right to the model, and with a white reflector in between.
I am not sure if I like it or not, the image is a little too flat. What do you all think? Drop me a line or two when you have a minute.
It is a little flat. Try putting more lights on one side than the other...that should help the ratio of highlight to shadow.