Originally Posted by
rickztahone
That does indeed look better exposed, however, I think I would slow down the shutter just a tad bit more. Remember, your exposure scale is merely a guide, not a rule. When it is at 0, it is giving you a good reading of what is in front of it, but in a large scale. Your subject in this instance is the key subject, and your exposure scale is taking your background in to consideration when giving you your exposure reading. Again, if you take a shot, and it looks dark to you, make it lighter to your eye. Product photography in many ways is easier than run and gun photography because you have the option to take your time to adjust your settings.
I believe you are on the right track here. Personally, I think it would look great standing up somehow, or in a bottle as mentioned previously. However, I am getting this weird feeling of a fish eye look for some reason and I am not sure why. It may just be because of the way the wood behind the subject is grained, or something along those lines. Either way, this one is much better than the first, but you are focusing more on the bottom part of the subject (closest to you), rather than the top, the most important part. When you take a shot like this, always give the priority to the main subject. For this, you'd either have to be right over the subject shooting down, or placing the subject at an angle so that you have a better view of the subject.