Experimenting With Photography Backgrounds

As much as I love very plain light backgrounds for photographing my glass pieces, once in a while I try something new for a little variety.

Here is blue enamel on a hanging aqua heart lampwork pendant, which is one of my pieces photographed yesterday.  Check out this background.

So here is my latest experiment.  I used the cardboard aluminum foil lid of my take-out food container.   

Some of the things I like-

1. It reflects light and made the darker day natural light shooting a little brighter.

2. It shows up as mostly "gray",  which works well as a very neutral background.

3. (Don't laugh at this one) It will not get wrecked if there are a few drops of water on it.  I'd better explain this one.  I clean my beads first thing in the morning and then I photo them almost immediately afterwards.  Sometimes they haven't dried all the way, and a drop or two of water comes out.  It can wreck the paper I use as the background, due to the water spots.

4. And depending on the item photographed, sometimes it reflects some of the work and adds a little artistic flair to the image.

I'll have more items in my Etsy shop later today and through the week, which use this background so you can compare them.

Do you have any photographic backgrounds that are a little different and you like?  Please comment and share them with us.