The LSG PHOTO video on Youtube shows you how to take some generic aluminum foil, combine it with a color gel of your choice on your light source (be it flash, bulb, etc) to create this bokeh wall effect that is fun for creative product photography. (For the uninitiated, bokeh is the aesthetic quality of the blur produced in the out-of-focus parts of an image produced by a lens.)
Just crumple up the foil, then lay it back out semi-flat and hang it behind your subject. You then point your light at the foil, place your color gel over the light, and take some shots. You can also move the light to change how it bounces off the foil for the best effect, but really that is the long and short of it. You could also expand this technique for larger products — even portraits of people — if you don’t mind trying to attach panels of aluminum foil together.
This is just one great example of how you can be incredibly creative with your photography on a bare-bones budget. You likely already have some aluminum foil on hand, and inexpensive color gels can be found on the cheap at arts and crafts stores, so you really have no excuse to not give this a try.
