"Most important thing: take LOTS of photos. Do several for each way you light things, and try lighting it in many different ways. It's really tough to see how a picture will turn out before you take it. There's a reason you see professionals take photos rapidfire.

As for lighting: start by turning on all the lights you can (unless you're using candlelight). If you don't have enough lights, take some from elsewhere. Turn your monitor onto the lowest brightness setting. Then start adjusting both (while taking pictures) until the brightness of the monitor meets the brightness of your room. How can you tell when they're matched? By looking at the finished photos. That's why you take a ton of them.

After you take all the pictures, load them onto your computer without cleaning up. If you find one you like, roll with it. If not, get ready to keep taking pictures.

Does this sound like a lot of work? Good. Worthwhile shit is rarely easy. Oh, and try taking the picture from lots of different angles, too. It can only help in your final selection. During selection, elimination is probably the best way to do shit.

Hope that helps."