Assignment 1: Feedback and re-shoot, Part 2

So back to the re-shoot #2 for assignment 1. This is for the image transparent. The tutor mentioned that the original shot has too many distracting shadows and reflections. It was my least favourite shot anyway, so let's redo it.


The only flash I have is a Nikon flashgun. Here is the rest of the poor man set up: There are two backdrops. One is the lining paper for wallpaper, which cost only a pound at the pound stop. The other one is the mail wrapping paper, which cost only a pound fifty at Reyman. There are clamps to hold the reflector and backdrop which cost 2.50 and the softbox is just a piece of A4 paper stick to the flashgun. LOL.


First of all, let's try this set up, which is typical for portrait.

Ok, I get something.

I think the softbox is not big enough, so the big-ish spot on the left is the softbox. The spot on the lower right is not clear to me what it is. Fine, let's bounce the flash off from the ceiling instead of blasting it straight at the glass. 

I am not sure if this is better or not. The light spot on the left is gone, but the dot on the lower right hand corner is still around. There are varies reflection on the glass, if you zoom in close, it is reflecting the surrounding (ie my camera, curtains, etc).


It doesn't seem to work, so let's try another set up. The first issue is my A4 softbox is not big enough, so let's get a bigger one, say the wall. There is no flat wall at my place so I want to try bouncing the flash off one backdrop, while the other backdrop sitting over the OCA course material box. 

Ok, I get something. 

The background colour looks weird, but it is not the end of the world. The light spot on the left look smaller than the right, so maybe I should push the reflector in a little bit. At the round part of the glass, the left side is brighter than the right, so maybe I should have the glass closer to the wall? Something like this:

 I think they look ok, but here is a catch. If I want to be a pixel-peeper and zoom in at 100% crop, the reflection at the lower right hand side of the glass is not that clean. I can actually see the end of the backdrop there. I really can't tell at the stage, what constitute a good catalogue type product photography?