I was doing some machining the other day and I noticed that the multicolored chips (from first machining a piece of brass and then a piece of aluminum) formed a nice looking pile under the cutting tool. I ended up saving some of the chips so I could take a picture of them later.

Here I spread the chips out on a dark wooden tray and set the machined piece atop the chips. Lighting was all natural light in my front porch, using a white binder to reflect some sunlight onto the scene.

Image was taken with a tripod with a wired remote shutter release.