ArtMetal

Laura,

Get yourself some fairly powerful, daylight spectrum halogen bulbs, something on the order of 50 watts or greater. I would go for 200 watts if possible. You simply cannot have too much light. Next, get yourself some 90% white reflection card stock from the photo supply, a couple of 22"x28" sheets. These will reflect fill light from the sides and/or back to remove harsh shadows.

Usea reasonably neutral background like medium gray, blue or maroon, and avoid black or white as backgrounds. Too much contrast ruins the midtones and makes the image look too harsh. Expewrimetn with placement of lights, trying from every angle until you see what you like - don't forget the reflection cards to soften shadows.

I recommend getting and learning to use Adobe Photoshop. Yes, it has a steep learning curve, but it is the best there is and you can work absolute wonders with it once you learn just a bit of it. Those who are truly proficient with Photoshop can do anything.

Lastly, for highly reflective work such as polished silver or gold, it is sometimes necessary to polarize your floodlights and use a polarizing filter on the camera lens to reduce glare and reflections. For ordinary materials, many industrial photographers use a matte spray to kill reflections, but on polished metal nothing works like a polarizer. With it, you can reduce the reflectins by any amount you want, achieving just the look you desire.