First time doing studio sytle shoot

[RAWcop]

My friend wanted some maternity pictures done and I was happy to oblige. I had set up a makeshift studio in my garage. Since I mostly shoot outdoors, I had to experiment with lighting. equipment used: 1 soft box continual use light on right (full power), 430ex flash through umbrella on left (don't remember what power) and overhead soft box.
Here is one of the better ones with a little bit o' photoshop


Camera Canon EOS 60D
Exposure 0.025 sec (1/40)
Aperture f/5.0
Focal Length 31 mm
ISO Speed 320
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire

How can I improve my lighting (other than get another flash)? Does the color/white balance seem correct? Overall pose and composition of photo?

Thanks!

[Doug Sundseth]

Problems I see here:

The tops of your subjects look a bit overexposed. There's a shadow from the woman's head that is hitting the man's face. The facial light seems very flat. The back of the man's shirt seems to blur into the background.

Suggestions:

First, so you'll understand where my comments are coming from, I should note that I tend to favor short lighting (brighter on the side away from the camera) with a fair dropoff to the fill light (usually around 2 stops). I also tend to prefer lower key photos than you have here.

So given that my style is very different than yours here, I would:

Use the umbrella'd light as a fill directly below the camera. It's going everywhere anyway, so I'd prefer it not be a key, and putting it below the camera allows decent control of unwanted shadows visible to the camera. Dial it down until it's revealing the details in the shadows as you would prefer.

Use one softbox high camera left and to the front of the subjects, ideally shooting down at between 30 and 45 degrees, for the key. This should reduce problematic shadows from the woman.

Use the second softbox to provide separation of the subjects from the backdrop. This will probably require a grid or flag to control spill.

FWIW, I like to start with the fill light, then set the key and separation lights, adding one at a time and adjusting only one light at a time.

HTH

[zona5101]

+1 - Doug has provided some very useful suggestions.

[RAWcop]

Thank you for in input. I will put it to good use on my next shoot.