Hey Chris (guess whoooo)
I've decided to help ya out with some edits
I hope you get a good idea of how to do the first one, considering how dramatic it looks, I went for dramatic lighting
And as for the portrait, pallets for faces can get tricky, especially trying to get that subtle warmth that you usually see in photos, now I don't know if my example is good enough, but examining the photo the darker tones have a more grayish appearance, which can help bring the lighter tones out if you give them a subtle saturation of color. I also went ahead and did a quick edit to make the cloth have more depth, and stand out better. (although you were probably going to do that already..)
I've decided to help ya out with some edits
I hope you get a good idea of how to do the first one, considering how dramatic it looks, I went for dramatic lighting
And as for the portrait, pallets for faces can get tricky, especially trying to get that subtle warmth that you usually see in photos, now I don't know if my example is good enough, but examining the photo the darker tones have a more grayish appearance, which can help bring the lighter tones out if you give them a subtle saturation of color. I also went ahead and did a quick edit to make the cloth have more depth, and stand out better. (although you were probably going to do that already..)