I found that, if possible, it was much easier to first remove the secondary reflections. G etting a halo of light around an otherwise eclipsed spot meant that my gobo was either too small or it was the wrong distance from the light. For this setup, the best location for a gobo seemed to be about halfway between the light and the subject. When I had a large bottle, the hot spot would be larger than for a small one. Lastly, I did the same with light No. 3.
Some minor reflections give the project an air of reality.
T he support under the neck of the bottle cast a strong shadow on the base. I aimed another spotlight at this shadow from about 18 inches away, which removed it but created two sets of reflections, using up two more gobos. I also wanted to illuminate the lower part of the hull, so I mounted another spot just above the tabletop and aimed it at a point on the hull just beneath the foremast, mounting a gobo to clear the hot spot. This produced lots of secondary reflections because of the light's proximity to the bottle. Also, since the light from the stem of the reflector's spotlight wasn't well silvered, this created reflections of its own.