First time photoshoot, comments welcome!

[Sean Setters]

I have been wanting to do shots with that style of lighting for a while, but I wasn't sure what technique to use for that. Any tips?

I must admit that photos like that aren't my specialty, but I can tell you how I did that particular shot. I used a collapsible Botero background (black) and a 28" Westcott Apollo softbox. I had to use a softbox because I wanted to restrict the light from hitting the background (which would have highlighted any wrinkles in it and turned the background a lighter shade of gray). The shot was taken indoors in the subject's kitchen. ;-)

[piiooo]

Are strobes/speedlights really that much better?

As a general rule, yes. While you cannot of course see the effects of the strobe until you view it on the LCD screen, you learn quite quickly what to expect at different settings in differing situations. Strobes are better because they are many times more powerful than continuous lights, and therefore, much more useful. Plus, you can put AAs in shoe-mount flashes and take them anywhere--you have to find a place to plug in continuous lights (battery powered continuous lights are too under-powered to be considered).

Continuous lights may also constrict pupils in your models' eyes,which sometimes looks odd to say the least. Generaly speaking, larger pupils are moreflattering then small ones.