Single Source lighting need advice

vkdafldkafl

these were my initial thought on lighting the scene 

so it's something like dark hallway no light maybe dark moonlight from the window or some cracks

and character is holding the candle lantern and get some nice lighting on her face 

this was my plan

and



it just doesn't look good i keep trying things like changing light color try different light like area light 
put some more lights like fill light or using point light instead of mesh light but none of them seems work 

teodar23

Whats your gamma setting? What color space are you working in? 
I think you need to play with exposure. If its not the exposure then its probably a combination of factors...

rexo12

single source lighting is rarely going to be 'single source' in movies and photos, which is something to be aware of with your references. Both those images are likely to have been shot with a larger diffused light off screen to provide more powerful illumination than the candle.

You mention that you want moonlight or something of that sort to provide ambient illumination + contrast. Why are you fiddling around right now, before you've finished setting up your lighting? Given that you are raytracing this, I expect that the moonlight idea would go a long way to helping to bring the contrast down and include that ambient term that is currently missing.

It can also be helpful to take some of your own reference photos of the look you're going for. All you'd need is a dark room and a candle!