First shot at "product" photography

[niccig]

(Let me know if I'm once again the victim of random resizing by photobucket)

So, this is my first shot at product photography. In this case, the "product" was a knick-knack from my husband's desk. Exposure info:

KM Dimage z6
ISO 100
f/4
1/2 sec
I think 35mm -ish (actual focal length is 17.69mm, but I don't feel like looking up the conversion factor for my camera). I know it was either as wide as it would go, or nearly

What I did:

I used my homemade light tent for this shot, with one clamp light with 75W "daylight" bulb head-on from the left, and the same kind of light from above and to the right. The left-hand light had a white tshirt thrown over it because it was considerably closer to the tent than the other, since my "studio" happens to also be my master closet Overhead room light was turned off. The reflection is from a piece of lucite under the dragon. I used a tripod and the self-timer. This, by the way, is straight out of the camera, except resizing to 800x600 in PS. There's no telling what photobucket did to it afterward. On my screen it looks tiny.

My questions:
1. How do you think I did for a first try? Of course there were a lot of other shots that looked pretty crappy (since I was experimenting with angles, exposure, white balance, etc).
2. Do you think it would look better stopped down to f/8 (as low as I can go with that camera), and a longer exposure? The feet especially look a little soft to me.
3. How can I get a better reflection? I would have like the reflection to be a little more prominent. Maybe move the right hand light a little higher up?
4. What do you think of the lighting angles and composition in general? Any other tips?

Thanks!
-Nicci

 

[KevinR]

I think it is a nice try. The angle seems a little off to me. It seems like the its leaning down on it's left.

I think the biggest issue you have is those 75 watters. You might want to try and find at least 150 watts each. The reflection should be more prominent.

 

[jonasr_jp]

for me it feels really weird with the dragon in the upper part of the photo,

 

[niccig]

Yeah, I was trying to get the reflection all the way in. Maybe a horizontal crop would have been better?