A friend at work has put me in touch with a friend of her's that is getting ready to sell surgical packs and wants a handful of shots for their website. I've never shot with a black background and was wondering if someone here might be able to give me some advice on material and lighting? She is unfortunately on a time crunch (by this Wed.) which is not my problem and I'm not committed to her paying me if she doesn't like the photos (kind of a friend helping a friend thing), but would like to do a respectable job for her. She didn't seem to indicate she was looking for a pro shot, just some that looked decent. I've included a link to what objects I'm going to be photographing and my lighting is limited to a 30" softbox, two speedlights, and three continuous lights (cheap clamp on reflectors from the hardware store) that I can diffuse through muslin or whatever.

The quickie shots she sent with her cellphone to me to give me an idea of what she wanted were all straight down shots, but I think the photo in the link might be a better perspective.

http://www.insightsurgical.com.au/packs.html

Get some black colored velvet cloth. It will give you a nice black.

Originally Posted by Osprey Get some black colored velvet cloth. It will give you a nice black.

Black velvet can be tricky. It can show up with green highlights. Dunno why, but it does.

Other colors can work if you use Photoshop. Just pick a color that is not dominant in
the product and use "Replace Color" or "Match Color" to change the color to black.
Draw a loose selection, invert, and the change the color if colors in the product change.

Originally Posted by TonyCooper Black velvet can be tricky. It can show up with green highlights. Dunno why, but it does. Other colors can work if you use Photoshop. Just pick a color that is not dominant in the product and use "Replace Color" or "Match Color" to change the color to black. Draw a loose selection, invert, and the change the color if colors in the product change.

Thanks for all the replies. I ended up using a black cotton backdrop and a black piece of poster board as the table in a 30"x30" homemade lightbox with three lights, then doing exactly as you described Tony. Most all the products were silver or white with black lettering, so I just inverted and painted in black.

It was my first time trying anything like that, but I thought it turned out well and I made a couple of hundred dollars for 7 shots that took me about 4 hours all together including PP (I was very picky around the edges of the pieces). They said they'd have 3-4 more kits in the next six months and would be calling me. One of them is a circumcision kit named "The Little Chopper", which I thought was tacky and funny at the same time.

When they get their website up I'll post a link.