Just to stay with the lighting for a moment: Your light(s) flatten the image because they are shooting from the same direction as the camera. Move them off to the side at 45 angles. If it's two lights overlapping that could be why they are blowing out. No paint program is going to help that if the levels are all flattened at the top. You would end up with big flat grey highlights. The pose issue is a whole other kettle. good luck