Can't seem to get a decent material inside Lee's new VOlume Texture Tutorials

[LMimagery]

I have got the volume textures working, but the materials never look good at all, there is little definition or contrast, and the material always looks grainy and ill defined...here is a pic of my setup using a image texture...also, I can't get rid of the straight "edge" apprearing on the left side of the render window, it does not seem to be connected to the image, or its position

Any help greatly apprecited

[LMimagery]

Sorry, edge in texture on right side of render, not left

[lee_griggs]

How are you lighting the scene? I find small light sources bring out more contrast with volumes and look better.