Anons getting into photography, don't be like me. Don't skip your lighting reps.
For the longest time I thought just using a camera was good enough, but bad lighting WILL ruin an otherwise good looking pic. On the other hand, decent lighting can make even a simple shot look good.

(1) Unedited JPEG + low quality ceiling lamp
(2) Unedited JPEG + tube light on the left and a silver reflector on the right.
(3)Same setup as (2), but slightly edited RAW.

Could have been better, but you get the idea.