I've been playing around with different lighting setups but I struggle with creating the contrast that I am looking for. You can see the attached image as an example. Does anyone have suggestions on how to go about this? Simply pulling blacks down or increasing contrast in post doesn't seem to give the results I'm looking for. Is it a dodge and burn issue or should I be looking at how I set up my lights? Thanks!
Possibly light spill into your lens? That can affect contrast.
It may seem minor, but lens hood can help a lot sometimes when you have lights shooting toward the camera. Looks like you have some kicker lights. Put some grids on them if you have them or put up a flag.
Turn things down and move em closer... that inverse square law is all about contrast bro!!