Phil, to be honest I really don't know where this stuff comes from, but I enjoy doing it. With regard to your question:
I threw some gold foil stuff that I had up on a posing table. Background is white linolium, gel'd with blue for background. Red gel camera right and high, softbox with grid, high camrea left.
Tweaked curves in PS to darken the overall image to get the blue dark. Selected with lasso, the gold with red tint on it, and up'd the curves in just that part, to brighten it. Added lens flare as well.
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