Overhead shot over a glossy suface

Question

Disclaimer: absolute beginner to photography.

Ok, so as I start learning the basics of product photography by browsing the web + trial & error, I came across one problem.

I want to closely match the lighting of the following shot,

but from an overhead angle. Since the shot is taken on a reflective (black) surface, the somewhat obvious problem I get is that from an overhead angle, the camera's reflection can be seen in the shot.

Here's an example of the reflection on the same surface as above. I tried playing a little bit with the distance, position, and number of lights. The reflection is always there with the combinations i tried.

I'm open to setup suggestions (buying other surfaces/lights). At the moment, I have 2 tabletop lamps, and one softbox overhead. All three are continuous lights.

My question is, what kind of surface/lighting combination could I use to achieve a similar 'cloudy' look of the background from an overhead angle. I am at a loss so any suggestion is more than welcome. I'm looking for setup examples, if possible. Thank you.

P.S. What is the correct term for describing the light appearance I showed? I couldn't come up with anything better than 'cloudy'.

Edit 1: Added example shot. Edit 2: Emphaiszed my question.

Answer 1

You can't change the laws of physics. One of them is that, in terms of reflections, the angle of incidence equals the angle of reflection. If your camera's optical axis is 90° with respect to a reflective surface, you're going to see a reflection of the camera. The only way to change this is to either:

1) Change the angle away from 90° enough that the reflection is out of the camera's field of view.
2) Use a type of 'two-way' mirror to prevent the reflection of the camera by shooting through a translucent glass.
3) Use a non-reflective surface for your background.
4) Use a long enough focal length that allows you to shoot with the camera far enough away that the entire reflection of the camera is masked by the non-reflective items sitting on the reflective surface.

Answer 2

Here's how i'd do it:

Get a big piece of black card / board, make a hole through it in the middle, and stick your lens through it.

How you support it is up to you (ladders, rope, string, chewing gum), but you will want to be sure it is big enough to completely hide any background (ceiling?) in the reflection.

Answer 3

The best bet for table top product photography nowdays is to shoot all as cutouts and use photoshop to drop backgrounds in, its great for composits etc , bear in mind it might be useful to reflect a bit of colour into the edges of the packs or products so it looks more natural, ie if you were planning on dropping the product shot onto a blue background, reflect some blue into it etc. For reflections and lighting have plenty of black, white card and paper handy and of course the pack shot/product photographers best friends "masking tape and blue tack"

Answer 4

Post-process it... the background (i.e., the dark surface) is very smooth, consistent, easily copied to be pasted over the reflection you have.

Any cloning tool will do this job (done in 30secs, using GIMP, for example)