Like Rod I use black cotton velvet, which is less shiny than velvets made from synthetic thread. To avoid shine on the backdrop you need to try and keep the light off it, either by shading or often inclining the top of the card forward will help. Another method to obtain a black background is to matte black paint the inside of a box and then stand your plant in front of it rather like photographing somebody standing at a cave entrance, the sides and top of the box keeping light off the back forming the background to your picture.
If your black background is not completely black you can often correct it in post processing by setting the paint bucket tool in most post processing software to black and then simply flooding the background with it. You may have to touch up a few parts, but usually it works. However sometimes this method is not workable as it bleeds into the petals, but this is not usually a common occurrence.
This Thelocactus bicolor commodus was done by that method, even though originally taken in front of a black background to start with. If your original background is a single colour you can change it to any colour or shade you want later in post processing by using the paint bucket tool, unless the new background colour chosen merges with any parts of the plant. However using "Edit Undo" will put the image back to it's original state should this happen.
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