How to get this look...

[erincarter]

Just wondering how this look is achieved...it's not your normal run of the mill black and white.

[LeeR]

I would say this is rather run of the mill...for a professional. If you look closely at the boy's eyes you will see that the main light is a big softbox that lights three quarters of his face. There is also a smaller light to the right leaving just a hint of a shadow on the left side of his face. Finally, there is a light trained on the background to create the proper shade of white. The rest us just getting the expression right. Easy...not!

[i speak in math]

I'd say large softbox camera left, accent light behind subject camera right and something hitting the background. There looks to be a reflector below as well.

Here's one I did that is similar. I had white shoot through umbrella on axis and above, very close in. Reflector below and a flash hitting a white wall behind. For post processing, I used my normal conversion method for b&w.