Photography....my first advice would be to do something about the background. It's never good to place your cherished work of art against something like a cooker to photograph it. A roll of lining paper is very handy, just tear off a length. Sellotape it to the tiles in the kitchen and let it drape down and over the worktop, then you'll get a plain background in a continuous curve, which reduces the background to as-near-to plain and uncluttered as you can get without spending lots on it.....in the trade, they call this an "Infinity curve".
As for light, get plenty of light behind you, so position it with your back to a window. If you use artificial light, that's fine, but beware big white glares on the surface....you could try reducing these by holding a sheet of printer paper above/in front of the sphere, so that some light passes through it and is diffused, which will cut down on glare and on shadows.
Hope this helps...
Les
