Lighting effects? Ah, it's the dining table effect, actually. LOL. I take my pics with the model on top of our dining table which has a 1/2 inch thick bronze tinted glass top. If you position the lamp right above the model with light perpendicular to the table surface the most of the light will not be reflected but will just pass through the glass. Taking pics from angles above the model reduces the reflections making the background look very dark. Be careful about the flash, however. At some angles the flash will be reflected on the surface causing some glare.
Actualy I tried also the blue background and kinda like it. But since I really don't have a special space for photography and need to build up the background everytime, taking pics on the dining table saves me a lot of time.
Thanks for your comments guys.