September 03, 2011 6:48am As the others here have said, wonderful use of lighting here (thank you for sharing the technique). It really does just look amazing. I think this shot really shows off your skills as a photographer rather beautifully.
I usually use a speedlight off-camera, but was using 2 500W incandescent bulbs (3200K).
In this case, I used one light direct on her face, but angled across her body. this removed most of the light from the wall. A reflector placed near me bounced light back onto the side of her face. This allowed her face to be well light, but separated from the background.
January 09, 2011 1:02pm Thanks for the pic comment. Love this shot! The lighting here is superb. I really like how you've managed to get that sense of contrast between Samantha's well-lit face and the dark background, but without actually having a dark background. :)