Thanks for backing me up on this, starlight.
Steve, you need to differentiate between effects that look good, and ones that don't look good.
Even though it was your intention to do certain things, in the end, it just might not turn out to look so good.
You have a lot more to learn before trying different tricks with light.
And even though almost everyone will recommend an SLR camera, a point and shoot is not a valid excuse for bad photos.
They are still good quality cameras and most of them come with at least some manipulable settings (mind you, not as much as an SLR in terms of aperture and shutter speed and such).
But, regardless of what you use, COMPOSITION is key. You can be using a cellphone camera, but still show that you have a good handle of composition.
In this case, I can't say you do. But that's not to discourage you. You just need to practice and work on it.
Look at works of famous photographers. Google them. Look around deviantart and Flickr at professionals' works.
Look up exercises to help you work on composition.