Equipment Tip: Using a Reflector
One of the first lighting tools I added to my photography gear was a reflector. They are fairly inexpensive and extremely portable which makes them a perfect lighting tool when you are just starting out. While I have additional lighting now I still carry a set of reflectors with me because of how often they are enough to control the lighting without having to set up any additional gear.
For this shoot I was interested in the pattern of the light as it came through the blinds on the window to the right of the frame. In the first photo I really wanted to emphasize the way the dot patten lined my model's face. I liked the look achieved by leaving the left side of her face in the shadows since this really brought attention to the dot pattern on the right side of her face. So for this shot I used only the window light with no reflector.
With the simple addition of a reflector I was able to get two very different looks with the same window light. Neither look is "incorrectly" lit. Instead, with the use of a reflector I was able to create two different looks by controlling the light to get the look I wanted for each photo.