The best way to do this would be for you to take some shots with someone who does lots of portraits. Practical experience is best. Next best will be the mass of books on portraiture that show examples, some even illustrated with the lighting set ups as well.

Modelling is giving shape to an object by controlling the light and shadows to give the desired shape. By filling the shadows completely with your reflector you have eliminated them and ended up with flat, even light. Try moving the reflector further away to allow some shadow without it becoming too harsh.

As regards the colour I'll try to link in an image of my own here to show what I mean, or at least what I like:







This has much richer colours and is lit by a single main light as I recall. Pentax k10D with 16-45mm lens. Does that help to explain what I mean?

I think the biggest problem here is the lighting, which is very flat and dull. You need some gentle "modelling" of the features and more vitality in the colour. Would this grace the pages of a glossy magazine as it stands?

Perhaps think about a little more drama in the lighting set up. A large window is a good source of natural light, or a single softbox perhaps if you want to use studio flash.

The other thing to think about are the eyes. The eyes catch our attention and should generally be sharp.

Have a look at lots of images on EPZ and see the good portraits there for ideas.

You've made a good start but ut does need refining and I hope these comments will help you.

It's Ok, George, I never specified what I meant by "a few".....

If it's fast primes that are needed it's little known that Voigtlander lenses are available in K mount.

There is a full range, including some fast telephotos.

The thing about lenses is that we only buy a few, so providing those that we actually need to buy are available it doesn't really matter what all the rest are or are not.

So what is the specification that you are looking for, and I wonder if something suitable is available on the second hand market?

There's a rather nice SMC Pentax-FA 85mm f1.4 for example.

If you were thinking of a 85mm in 35mm camera terms, then the 50mm f1.4 fits the bill very well as a 35mm-equivalent 75mm f1.4

You only need one lens and maybe it exists already?

The answer is to stop replying. Don't want to be rude either, but I agree with what Matt said.

Please post messages here and not by redirection to other sites.

Many thanks.

It's intended for film cameras and will still be as good for that as it was when first designed, not that long ago.

The digital equivalent for a similar effect would be the 10-17mm.

Excellent colour. I especially like the second picture.

Whilst I use ultra-wides for landscapes it's worth a mention that telephoto lenses are also superb landscape optics.

Telephoto lenses pull in distant mountains and so on and prevent them from becoming insignificant in the frame.

They also make compositions without any sky easier to achieve.