+1

Angle of the light and the plane it's hitting is going to influence the amount of glare and reflection.

Also, not to be snarky but it's unclear from the OP what result it is you're looking to get.

Ed

Aaron, your recommendation of LSM is spot on, however, I'd like to point out that not all metals (and by the way I'm interpreting the OP's question, this is what he's talking about) are incapable of producing diffuse highlights.

For example, I've photographed a lot of anodized metals and gun parts.  They most certainly produce a diffuse highlight (whereas, say a shiny watch does not).  Brass instruments will produce a diffuse highlight, etc.

For the OP, you will find that much of getting the modern look that I think you're going for is achieved in post.   That doesn't mean you don't need to understand how to light and shoot the stuff, you do, but bringing out the grain (as I think you want) won't really happen with a DSLR in raw.  With film, you could select a stock that would give you what you want, but with digital, you'll have to do it after the fact.

While shooting you want to shoot a little flatter than you might think you should.  You still want shadows, diffuse highlight areas and specular highlight areas, but you don't want them at high ratios (you will do this in post for complete control). 

Once you have your selects, you'll then have to retouch the shots, often times a lot.  Product work is like a beauty shoot, TONS of very minor flaws that need to be taken care of.  Once the product has been retouched, then you can work with adjustment layers to achieve the look you want.  Global adjustments rarely work, so you'll find that you're making different adjustments for each piece of the item  you're photographing.

Here's an example of a watch with a polished steel casing that produced mostly specular highlights, no real diffuse highlights other than on the face (black metal): 



That required me to shroud the watch in white foamcore in order to make sure that the metal reflected white, while at the same time, I had to make sure the face didn't light up too much.  I used a gobo and controlled the ratio, but still, work had to be done in post.  The amount of dust that was visible under the watch crystal was insane.....

Here's another watch, this time with a brushed steel casing:



As you can see, there is a a subtle diffuse highlight that was also controlled by lighting and reflections.

Here's a gun bipod (please excuse the cheesiness of the photo, I had no control over the art direction).  You will see that it is almost all diffuse:



All of this comes down to understanding the family of angles, which is kind of beyond this post.  Get the book previously recommended and experiment.

http://www.amazon.com/Light-Science-Mag … 0240812255

While I agree with the recommendation of the book, I disagree that metal cannot produce diffuse reflection - it depends on the finish.  While nearly zero diffuse reflection may be true of highly polished metal surfaces, the OP is asking about brushed aluminum/steel which provides both direct and diffuse reflection.

Check out the examples on this web page for example:
http://www.blackmagicdesign.com/product … onverters/

Perfect!
So, basically, I want to aim to shoot as if I'd just FINISHED an initial attack with Photoshop's 'Shadows and Highlights'

AWESOME watch BTW :-)

True true. I was mostly making a point on why MOST metal is difficult to shoot.

Sorry if I was misleading. I guess I did say all. Jewelry is a great example of the different finishes. Especially watches with the crystals.

I have to tell you that this is a perfect example of why I love MM. A few years ago I had no clue. I came here with some crappy pictures from my fist model shoot, got my ass chewed in critiques, asked questions, read some books and learned. Now today, I'm actually able to participate in answering many questions rather than asking all the time.

Nothing fancy or amazing but here are a few examples of the product work I'v done
http://galleries.aaronlewisphotography. … &k=JLVQ992

Made me smile :-)

Jokes aside - I like the polished surface - especially under the brass pocket watch - SO much better than trying to recreate the effect in Photoshop...