Help me create this look!

[Buttercup]

First, here's what I've got:
- Nikon D80 camera with speedlight flash
- two continuous studio lights on tripods, 1600 lumen each, and umbrellas
- black backdrop
- photoflex white/silver reflector

Now here's what I wanna do:
I want dark, velvety backgrounds - like you can't even see anything there - similar to these portraits...

I really like the dark & moody lighting in these portraits. Lots of interesting shadows.

My problems:
- Everytime I set up my lights (or even just one of them) the light spills over past my subject and onto the backdrop - so my pics end up looking like a guy sitting in front of a curtain. No fancy shadows or anything good looking. It's not moody, it's not artsy, it's just crummy!!!
- As well, my camera either wants the flash to go off, or a really long exposure time, causing blur.

How do you do it? I realize there might be some Photoshop involved which is fine. But I need a good picture to begin with.
Advice please! And perhaps diagrams on where to place the lights would be awesome too!

Thanks for helping this "studio newbie"! :heart:

 

[Johnboy2978]

looks to me like it was a combination of careful placement of the subjects, the lights and plenty of separation in space between the BG and the subjects. May have also used snoots or barn doors to gain better control over the light spill. Play around w/ the positioning of the subjects and the lights as well as varying the power of the lights. PS or similar programs can turn even the brightest BG completely black.

 

[Buttercup]

Thanks Johnboy!
I found a tutorial online here:
http://www.photoflexlightingschool....st_Studio/Black_and_White_Portrait/index.html
I think this will work with the current equipment I have. If I just use one of my lights, and push the reflector in to the umbrella further, I might be able to achieve the look I want. See Figure 3 in this link above.

Am I on the right track?

 

[Garbz]

What look exactly is it that you want? The three pictures are very different the only thing they have in common is they all are black and white, with a dominant diffused light source, and a black background.

The top left one has a very diffused light coming from the 3/4 position with something either subtly fill lighting the front or a reflector to bounce some light back so it's not completely dark. The one on the right has a far less diffuse light placed much closer to the subject giving a greater fall off. The one in the bottom right has a key light diffused yet from the looks of things tightly focused on the subject.

There are many ways to setup lights. I suggest you read http://strobist.blogspot.com the lighting 101 articles. Even though it focuses primarily on flashlight, the principles are identical for every type of light.