Well, I finally got to do my second studio effort today. I still didn't have my reflectors, but I did at least have some white nylon and foam core board. Although a gold panel would have been nice. Anyway, I used one light this time and that is all. It was much more satisfying than three at a time, and I learned alot about lighting, etc. Comments are welcome because there are some problems I had that I'm still thinking about how to fix. Room was very cramped, about 4-6 feet behind the subject and really narrow with 8 foot ceilings. Very hard, and you can see how I ran out of background on some, couldn't get the subject far enough away from the background, and the usual problems with insufficient space.

The link has both my first and second effort.
http://www.idlethoughtsandchaos.com/photo/

I like the way you have illustrated essentially two different styles using 3-light and 1-light setups. Both have merit, and the choice depends upon the needs of the client and the tastes of the photographer. You may find the 3-light setup more useful for shooting groups, annual reports, non-glamour advertizing, and such. The 1-light setup will probably appeal more to the "art" side of markets. In our experience portrait clients love one and hate the other, almost without thought. As a matter of course when interviewing portrait clients and showing them samples before a shoot, we try to show both to determine where their tastes lie. Even so, we usually manage at least a few shots in the alternate style in each session, then include them in the proofs. When you move beyond your own tastes, audience/client reception of styles is pretty fluid.

I think there's larger value in what you are doing right now: You are learning to work in a small space, to live within a set of parameters even if you would rather do something else. In location shooting away from our studio we usually find space confining and simply have to work around the limitation. In many cases you also face severe time constraints with business clients (CEOs for example) simply because they don't have a lot of time to give. You might have as little as 30 minutes to set up, shoot, break down and leave. Those are perfect parameters for a 1-light shoot in a confined space, in order to allow yourself even a few meaningful minutes with the subject. It gets challenging when they want a 3-light look in spite of the time and space constraints. Enter the silver reflectors rather than white.

Here's an interesing challenge for you, but one which I think you will enjoy, and also which may help free you from your confined space:

Take your 1-light setup out of your studio space and use it in other rooms, preferably with additional ambient light sources, and even outdoors. Now position your subject to take best advantage of the features in the larger space, but use your light and reflector to illuminate them in balance with the ambient light.

You are going to encounter very long shutter speeds in order to bring up the ambient light indoors, but in our experience most seated subjects can hold still for 4 seconds, and often as long as 8 seconds. This can be really freeing for you, and the results can be outstanding.

In balancing your light with ambient, you are also going to encounter differences in color temperature between your light and the ambient artificial source, especially if there is also sunlight. That verges into the realm of gels for your lights to achieve balance (or color contrast, depending on your tastes and goals for the shot), but again, results can be dramatic and very satisfying.

Hank, thanks for the pointers and observations. As soon as I can get another model to sit still for me, I'll try those ideas.