Having difficulty with illuminated products, may I have a critique please.

[LuxChroma]

Hi, I make illuminated wall art to help pay my way through college, and am struggling to create acceptable contextual/editorial photographs of my products. I am hoping someone is able to give me some pointers on how to bring my products alive through photography techniques and prop selection. The contextual/editorial picture in the attached gallery seems awkward and out of place due to it's grey overtone, something I have difficulty dealing with considering the nature of the products. What can I do to make this better?

 

[minicoop1985]

I'm not MUCH help, but perhaps a LITTLE higher on the first one might get rid of that post. On a side note, I want the hell out of that light. Vault 101 FTW

 

[Designer]

FWIW: #1 is the best of this group. I think you could just skip pictures such as 2, 3, 4, 5, and show #6 with the light on and the dimmer well away from the sculpture. People don't want to see the dimmer, and they are probably not interested in the back at all.

 

[The_Traveler]

Excuse me if I have misinterpreted your problem.

The wall looks grey because it is underexposed a bit.
I would use a levels layer to increase the exposure of the whites and then mask out the sculpture to bring back the original color.

 

[LuxChroma]

@minicoop1985: You can google search my user name to find my site. WTB SugarBombs, 25 caps.
@Designer: You're right, most customers don't care about the back, however, I do get some emails asking how the design works despite having a clear description of the item's function.
@The_Traveler: Thanks! This is what I was looking for. Being a bit new, I never used a layer mask before and it seems like this will really brighten those pictures.

If anyone has suggestions on the props I should use for the editorial/contextual images, I am all ears.

 

[webrotate360]

One way of dealing with the wall exposure and the light source is to take two shots from the same point: (1) nicely exposed room / wall and no lamp and (2) same shot but now with the lamp and exposed to get the best of the lamp. Then blend the two in photoshop, gimp, etc.