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hey i wanted to get back to you on these with a little "feedback". one of the "keys" i found early on is that background. almost anything will work, but how you light it, or don't light it can make all the difference in the world. one reason i prefer soft-boxes over umbrellas is that i can control the light better. umbrellas just spread light everywhere. soft-boxes offer a bit more control and a lot more control if you put a grid over it. i got grids almost immediately because i wanted as much control as possible.

having said all this, there is one thing you could have done (or can do next time) to greatly improve your shots: keep light off your background. these are kind of flat. the rim light helps, but had you kept light off that background, you would have added much depth. you need room to do this. gotta keep your subject away from the background (6-8 ft min). lighting your subject and not the background is easier said than done...lol, but it's something to think about.

i hear ya on lack of space. full body shots are a challenge and i have a pretty large room to shoot in. the grids attach via velcro on the outer edge of the softbox. PCB makes one for whatever size you need. i almost always use them when shooting indoors. "feather" the light as much as possible to keep it off the background too. "feather" meaning to angle the light away from your subject & background as much as possible while still lighting the subject. this will throw the light away from the background and produce an even softer (often more pleasing) light on your subject.

here is a shot of my daughter that shows a gradient effect of the light hitting a "white" background from an angle.

a white background can give you anything from white to black depending on how you light it. kinda cool.

oh yeah that looks familiar! actually got the same thing you got, foldable large octabox and a "regular" rectangle softbox (large). i was looking for a photo and the closest one i had to show you is this one...lol

but you can also go here and see how the grid looks. it fits over the top of the softbox ;-) it really
does a great job of keeping the light from speading out and keeping it where you want it. in hind sight,
i should have taken it off for the picture above...