Stretch Gamma possible??

Im trying to get a set of lights (and a material) to make a skin for a human model but i have run into a problem

How can i get the contrast to expand out so i can work with it??

right now i have an almost good set of lights but i can’t get the contrast to cover more than maybe the middle 20% of the range.

any hints??

More than likely it’s your lighting set up. But there is a Bright/Contrast node and also a Gamma node in the node editor to work on the rendered scene.

i would bet that it is either my material or my lighting. If you could give some hints as to HOW to go about fixing this?? https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5398233/skinshade4.blend is the file im working on. btw i am using Blender Internal and i do not have a node based material.

In your ‘World’ settings, make the Ambient Color darker, almost black.
You can also increase ‘exposure’ to .5 if you need more.