Not enough light

I took series of photos on white and then on black bckg. I even used a white board to reflect light, and tried to compare direct and indirect light.
1)I have nothing good on the white, color is off, and I am finally able to really see that I don't have enough light in the photo. If I use direct light I can't control it.
2) Black looks much better even dough I still don't have enough light. So I am putting my efforts on getting more light (I guess I will end up outside if I loose patience).
I am finally able to see and understand what everybody talks about that I need much more light on my scene: Eureka, now I have to get that light and put it on the right place

[Anne]

I really like this image Martina, the black background gives lovely definition to the shell

[~*~ Jo ~*~]

Lovely tones and detail in the shell - looks great on black

[Kathryn]

I like low exposure shots, so this looks nice to me...but you are correct that not enough light makes it difficult to shoot indoors.

[LTaylor]

nice series, good work - a bit of imperfection perfected

[wendy frost]

Great capture looks good on black.

[Kathy]

I believe the amount of light is fine. I think that the direction of the light might need to be a little different to show the dimensional character of this shell. It seems a litlle two dimensional to me. The dip in the center is not obvious.

[Margo]

Beautifully presented fav

[Martina]

@randystreat, OK Kathy, this is great input. But I wonder if it all has something to do with black bckg. When I did a same shot on white bckg it was not light enough and there where some shadows visible. But I didn't even think about the dip... I'll keep pushing the lights around...

[Kathy]

@cherrymartina Maybe lighting from the side would show the dimension of the shell better. And perhaps the lighting is too harsh. I have a very hard time using lights indoors. I don't have a studio and don't have a lot of room to dilute light on a subject. You are teaching me.