Severity takes pictures :3

[Alliecat]

I love the kitty!! And the lighting on his face. That is adorable.
For a little bit of fill light on candlelight or backlit shots, you might want to consider positioning a sheet of tinfoil to reflect a little light back onto faces. Scrunch it up first so it doesn't make discrete highlights.
Just a thought since you said you were trying to 'work on' your photography