CGSociety

Close-up shot of a simple chrome spiral with a stained-metal ball suspended in the middle. It is rendered in Maya using Mental Ray with Final Gather enabled. Mia_Material_x shaders are used for all the objects. The scene is lit by two area lights and reflectors; no HDRI or image-based lighting is used.
I have tried to reproduce photorealistic metal surfaces- both smooth and rough- as if in a studio setup, with soft shadows and an almost Black-and-White result. 3D camera depth-of-field and macro focus is used to get a nice sense of perspective and scale.
The final render has been left untouched.