Lilki
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Almass wrote:
The whole idea of having a grey backdrop is to keep it neutral.
Are you shooting through umbrellas? as the whole set up is flooded.
With flash/strobe you need first to light the background and then your other lights and last your key light.
For such shoot, a nice large softbox with some flags and a couple of strip side lights will enable you to control the whole scene.
I need to know whether you are using a shoot through umbrella in which case ditch them...there are two lights in there? No?
Use one source only, close to the subject, fast shutter speed and/or stop down your lens....and do not be afraid of shadows......many people myself included light for shadows.
If you look at your histogram, you will notice the black is almost non existent and you are very high in midtones=wash out as no black blacks or white whites.
- The easiest way to solve that is to use levels and bring your blacks back. Or a contrast curve .
- A more complicated way is to mask the background and cc to your liking.
- The best way would be to process with Frequency Separation each level independently.
.....and if you are a retoucher maverick, you would dodge and burn the image intuitively.
No easy ride, I am afraid.
Good Luck
P.S. The cat need to visit the grooming salon before a shoot 
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Thank you so much for your insightful reply. I'm in a rather sad and somewhat unique situation in that I have inherited some lighting gear that I am trying to learn how to use. I think there are some things missing, as I have found things like small octagon diffusers but no accompanying soft boxes. Here's what I've found: 1 AB (Alien Bees) 1600, 2 AB800, 1 AB400, 1 cybercommander, 3 receivers, 1 large octagonal soft box w/ diffuser, 1 large umbrella w/ diffuser.
Most of the background stuff I found at the swap meet: 3 rolls of seamless paper: grey, blue, and red. One dark brown canvas background and one that looks like the sky. Phew!
I will definitely check into some of the equipment you recommended, thanks! Good photographers make it look so easy when, most assuredly, it is not! I did play with the levels but, to be honest, I think most from this attempt were overexposed.
The cat was a photo of opportunity as, being a cat, he plunked himself in the middle of what I was doing.
I agree he could use a date with a groomer. 
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AuntiPode wrote:
Lighting people is different from lighting products and documents. Us light to show shapes and the three dimensional nature of the subject. Too much light, light from too many directions and too consistent makes subjects look flat and two dimensional. Read up on the basic light set-ups and the topic of lighting ratios for a start.
Yes, that makes a lot of sense. People need dimension. I think I'll pay Dr Google a visit for some tips on lighting setups. Thank you so much for the reply.
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fzzlcat
