I think that I would consider myself a beginner photographer. My first camera was a Canon AE-1 that I got back in January 2002, but I didn't know how to use it much at all until a year after that when I took a B&W photography class in college.

Now, I've had my Canon EOS 10D camera a little over a month and would like to start working with portrait photography.The main problem that I am facing, is how to get the lighting right.I cannot afford all of the basic lighting equipment used in a studio, so what's the next best option (maybe minimal equipment, but definately on a budget).

So far, I've preferred to use natural lighting, but getting enough light and maintaining fair contrast needs to be addressed.

AE-1 B&W (experiment with Technical Pan here, which didn't help sharpness and lighting situations):

I utilized the built-in flash of the 10D for this portrait, but I know that it's far from perfect (wish I had more time on that location):

Not sure what to ask or how to start, so hopefully someone can help me out a little bit, or maybe someone's been through the same situation. I wish I had more examples, but I keep getting stumped on the lighting situations and so I don't ever get a chance to grab a friend for posing.