Homemade flash/brolli setup - Question

[cyberlord]

I've been enjoying my time off these last few days, but annoying the wife with my running around and rearranging furniture and leaving my "junk" all over the place.

Here is the setup from a couple angles.






Here is the brolli adjusted to length so my flash head fills the brolly with no spillover.



And here are a couple test shots, the first with no fill, or only the wall as fill as it did provide a lot of reflected light. The second is with a cardboard reflector aimed to reflect the flash to my face.





The light is a little harsh still I think, so I'm going to make a foamcore softbox with nylon diffuser and try again. I'll be bare bulbing the flash head in the softbox when I do it.


OK, on to my question, is the brolli to high?
It's apx 45 deg between me and the camera and the shaft is pointing right at my face, but I'd like to know if I have it too high or not. The Camera is eyelevel for reference. I know the setup shots are bad, but there is no room in the corner to get a better angle.

Thanks,

Tim