Heh, I'm trying something I have never done before, and now that I'm trying to do a head & 
shoulders portrait of one of my Shadow Hounds, I have more respect for portrait creators.
The lighting is different and MUCH harder to get right than that of a full blown action scene.

I need a bit of help to get started, especially as the character in question is rather unusual.
Her skin is VERY pale, almost white. What kind of lighting does one use to show skin like
that best? Pinups and portraiture are not my prefered styles, though I do have a few pinups
in my gallery, including one of the character I'm trying the portrait for. Has anyone any
suggestions on just how to get started?

Greywolf

I would start with a pale blue spotlight as that will not change the color of the figure but will not cause a glare, either.  

Portraits are difficult to light but using at least one spotlight will get you going.  Once you have the lights right, don't forget to save them so that you'll have them again when you need them.

Thank you, Victoria_Lee. I just learned something else In a tut on DAZ. Subsurface 
scattering has an amazing effect on skin textures. It was one feature I never tried, and
it was most impressive. Pale blue hmmm. That'll give me a starting point. I always got
the lighting wrong on her, in every scene I did with her, her skin looks dead white. I want to
do her justice, and already got some impressive result with the SS scattering. Now we'll
see what proper lighting can do. :)

Greywolf

Attached Link: http://features.cgsociety.org/gallerycrits/2652/2652_1141628811_large.jpg

Cold light on an already cool skin is not a good idea IMO. You want to give her warmth and personality, not turn her into a vampire. Warm lights, with warm colors are the key. You can add cool blue/green lights for contrast, but keep them subtle, and use them for fills, not the primary light.

Also in general, portrait lighting is all about going for a well defined mood and fitting everything to that mood. eg ask yourself what the goal of your pic actually is. ie are you just doing a neutral 'hang on the wall' style portrait, or are you trying to capture some particular emotion or what. Your colors and lights should reflect that. Harsh shadows, strong specular/reflections, strong contrast are things to avoid. And be creative with the pose and expression. A bland smile or a direct 'staring at the viewer' pose is not necessarily the best approach.

with a white-skinned figure, my vote would be to convert the poser render to b/w line art, using one of the various shaders/tutorials available.

If you want to create photoreal portraits, you must light like a photographer, not a Poser operator. Google "portrait lighting" (or similar) - lots of very good free information out there.

Attached Link: http://www.glamour1.com/tips/lightf.php

Thank you. I DLed the portrait light setups. My brother can likely give me a hand, as he is a
photog. :) I'll use Cami for my learning experience, because with her ultra pale skin, she is
VERY hard to light. Once I can manage to make her look good in different lighting setups, then
I should be able to do any character. (or that is the theory)   :)

Eric