Those great pics on black backgrounds are not that difficult. In a nutshell: You need a large black cloth that absorbs light well (velvet, or thick cotton) and a good source of light (near a bright window -no direct sun though), and I also use mirrors or foil covered cardboard to reflect some light on the darker side of the plant. The cloth needs to be a good 20-30cm behind the plant so it's not in focus and you don't see any dust or other specks than may be on it.
Since the dark background tends to mess with the camera sensors, light colored blooms usually come out over-exposed. You either need to fiddle with the exposure on the camera, or trick it into thinking the background is white. What I do is hold a white paper behind the blooms, press the shutter halfway down to focus and 'lock' the settings, remove the white paper and then push the button the rest of the way to take the pic. This works fine with small plants that need the camera really close, because further away it's more difficult to reach out your arm.
The black background doesn't always come out perfect, so in those cases I usually adjust the contrast once the pics are on the computer
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Camille
Completely orchid obsessed and loving every minute of it....
My Orchid Photos
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definately my fave chid at the moment I've taken LOADS of piccys of it! I really want to learn how it take one of those gorgeous pics with the black background! 
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