I am finally getting around to experimenting with my light kit since I just have a finished piece back from the foundry. This is the photoflex soft box and has a filtering screen across the 500 watt bulb. Seems no matter where I place it, there is still quite a dark shadow cast behind the piece. Is it best to try to place the light directly overhead?

Anyway, I found these great background supports and paper at B&H Photo . The background support plus three rolls of paper (white, suede, and brown) were under $100 total.

The background curves up immediately behind your sculpture, becoming basically an angled wall. The table top needs to extend further back so that the shadow is cast on a horizontal plane. This will foreshorten the shadow and render it less obtrusive.