Dramatic Lighting

Dramatic lighting is a style of lighting that creates dramatic shadows and often works with the main light coming from only one side of the photo.
For this project I will be using a black backdrop and two lights.
So let's get started!

One-Point Lighting

We'll start with a one-point lighting setup. 

The light is above and in front of the subject, pointing down, and on the left side.

It should be slightly in front of your subject, not behind.

Right:

(light is abut 2 feet in front of subject)

Wrong:

(light is behind subject)

Because there is only light coming from one side, you will want your model's face tilted slightly toward the light (or completely facing it); this allows the light to brighten the face and bring out details, while facing away from the light will cause detail to be lost from the face.

Two-Point Lighting

This setup leaves the main light where it was, but adds one more light coming right under the main one. Although the one-point lighting setup does work well, if you notice there are some shadows on the face under the eyes, neck, and nose that I would like to lessen. If you position a second light very low to the ground and pointing up toward your model's face, it should add enough fill light to soften those shadows a bit.

Without 2nd light

With 2nd Light