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Comments
@Shinji Ikari 9th You've caught the "flashbulb" quality of the muzzle flash well, good job!.
The flash looks just a bit low/too far in front to me, but that's just my POV.
Nice dynamic scene.
@vpaintersue I think there are some nice qualities to all three images, but IMHO the first would be the easiest to improve. The highlight, mid-tone, shadows, looks more well balanced in that image to my eye. I think it is a bit dark though. Might be as easy as a camera exposure adjustment. I would start there before increasing the light.
@bastian2560 You definitely have brought out the background. I like what you have done along with the added foreground objects. Nicely done!
@sueya Wow, great job! The model looks really good.
Balancing the light (primary/rim) can be a real challenge. Your rim light is working well while the spotlight really brings out the shape of the figure. Well done.
Thanks for all your help. I rendered victoria again and tried to put a little more light on her. I also took out the background so the shadows weren't so distracting.
This picture was not that dark on my screen but when I changed it in photoshop to be a JPEG it must have made it darker. I will try to upload it again.
Here's what I hope is what I see on my computer.
This is the first image lightened slightly in photoshop.
I have access to 3 different screens. The one on my desktop that I use to render. My laptop and the computer at work. The lightest is the render desktop and the darkest is the office monitor.
Shadows that look fine on the rendering computer can be way too dark if I check it out at the office. No difference in the image. Just the monitor.
I am looking at images in this thread on my laptop which is the middle version. So your image may have appeared darker to me than it did on your computer.
I really like the pose and expression. And, for me on this computer, the slightly lightened version is my favourite.
Thank you, Kismet2012
@vpaintersue I am 100% with Kismet2012 the lightened version is very nice. You have a fit issue with the strap on the screen right shoulder though.
What are you using for lights? The way you have lit this does a great job of bringing out the figures facial features. Well done!
Just four different spotlights, set up at different angles.
The character is Victoria 7 and I did use some depth of field as well.
And thank you, dtrsbrutal..
@vpaintersue Thanks for the info. You are welcome.
The muzzle flash loads with the weapon I used, so I think that the angle that he's holding the gun has some thing to do with what you were discribing about it being low and far.
Also @Kismet2012, while he is running through a puddle his foot was also sinking into the ground below so I tweeked that along with some other changes.
Hope there weren't any dificulties uploading due to data speed but if everything went right here's version b of idea 2.
Much better. The problem with puddles is you never know how deep they really are until you are in them.
I like the addition of the scar on his face. If helps to draw the eye.
Started on this over a week ago and have been working on revisions to it, called "House of Swan". It was intended to have a slight feel of the white swan vs. black swan from the film "Black Swan". I rendered everything, each element and lighting source, in separate layers. The environment map (outside the architecture) is a HDRI simulating studio environment lighting. Each figure is also lit with a soft individual 3-point setup that intersects one another to have it blended- with one figure having a pink/red rim light and the other with a dark blue rim light (with an additional fill light at roughly half strength to brighten the legs/feet). There is also emissive lanterns helping to light spots of the interior and provide further backlighting. For the atmospherics I used some of the fog/haze generation from "Iray Storm" with the rain turned off and tweaked the shader settings to fit the indoor feel.
@vpaintersue I agree with @Kismet2012 and @dtrscbrutal...The lightened version with your excellent use of DOF really gives it that soft angelic feel and accentuates the face, bringing out the eyes/lips/nose.
@sueya The lighting in your most recent version looks fantastic! Excellent job with your revisions.
@Shinji Ikari 9th What an awesome and creative idea-lighting the scene with the muzzle flash. It really pulls the viewer into the scene. Great outside-the-box thinking.
@testingtesterson35 That is an incredible image, and a great bit of lighting. Excellent posing and environment for the subject. Perfect choice of characters.
All I can offer are nitpicks. You might consider expanding your canvas vertically, so the white swan is fully on screen. I could see how showing more shadow/reflection on the floor could be a good thing but I would worry that zooming out might loose some detail on the characters, that would definitely be a mistake IMHO.
Your image is one to be proud of, a wonderful and dramatic work. Well done!
The Unhelpful Muse
The light setup is a pair of warm lamps to the left, a pair of cool lamps directed at a table behind the camera, a couple of little lights behind the monitors meant as bias lights, and the various computer peripherals (monitors, keyboard, mouse, gamepad, headphones).
Blue wallpapers are courtesy of the Fedora Project.
Current priority is adjusting the lighting to put more focus on the characters; and probably replace the fedora wallpapers with something that blends a bit better.
This thing took way to long to get to a post-able state. Getting distracted with off-frame parts of the room or the cat tree did not help.
@Fishtales - great to know the set converts well to Iray!
@Kismet2012 - yes, I've read AoA's tutorials, but trying to put them into practice is another thing entirely! All this stuff about hitmodes and falloffs and turning shadows on and off - it makes my head swim. Thank you for the pictures and tests that you posted - they were really helpful. I've used a combination of AoA's Distant Light, Advanced Ambient Light, and Spotlight, and I'm starting to feel like I have a scene in progress here. Hopefully I'll have a chance to work on it some more before this month's contest closes.
Last minute tips/advice/critiques are very much appreciated!
Good evening everyone!
This is my entry: Mildness
Will comment on this and the process tomorrow...and thank everyone properly... my eyes are pure water right now... I can barely see...
And this is the raw images I used in the CSP layering composite (anything nothing was modified, only the opacity) and the added sign. Oh, and I raised the pixels from 72 to 300dpi hoping this will make the image look clearer...
Amazing art, everyone!!!!!
Off I go...
Is this a closed room? If yes, you could try hiding the ceiling to let in more ambient style light. You could also add some "pot lights" at the ceiling level to highlight your characters. The pot lights could be either point lights or spotlights.
Love your concept. It had me smiling as soon as I read your title. I think we have all been there at some point in time.
I agree that the information offered is very confusing. It does take some time to wrap your head around the information being presented.
One thing I can suggest, and should have mentioned before, is turn all the lights off then turn them on to see what each is doing...individually at first then in pairs, etc. One or more of your lights is a bit strong on your dancer's shirt. If you can figure out which one that is and either tone down the intensity or perhaps change the colour slightly it may help with the over exposure/brightness on the shirt.
Another alternative would be to change the colour of the shirt to something a bit darker.
I am glad my images where helpful.
You have made some really nice progress on this image. The hummingbird is nicely highlighted. The image overall has some nice movement with the fabric, the flying bird and the dancing figure.
I know the feeling, like Kismet2012 said more then likely we've all been there.
Is that a screenshot of the program that you use on the center monitor? If so, then nice touch.
Here are my final versions. Changed the lighting on the moonlight version somewhat by removing the volumetric effect, which resulted in a more of a hard light from the moon. I am amazed by the images that everyone has submitted and they all give me ideas and new techinques to try out.
Hi, everyone...
@kismet2012, @dtrscbrutal, @testingtesterson35 thanks for your kind words and suggestions! This challenge has been quite a challenge to my patience! LOL... waiting for the rendering process to show the 'experiment imagined scene' (sort to speak) is the best exercise for letting go and remaining present (amazing!).
@testingtesterson35: thanks for taking the time to annotate the canvases alternative... sadly, I guess it consumes a lot of time to render and as I am unable to look a the result within the process (after +1 hour or so) I decided to try this when I upgrade my Mac ;-P Anyways, I wanted to thank you with an image too (this is a toon version
of your avatar).
Your 'House of Swam' is so evocative! Beautiful artwork!
I guess it would be fun also to share part of the organized messiness of one's creative mind, the final render is not perfect (I am aware
) but it has been quite a journey in the sense of there was no final image in my mind prior to starting the challenge... there is this sense of what can happen and the joy of discovering the tools which allow materializing the imagined possibility out of curiosity is worth the try (I don't mind taking my time to do this... waiting for a render to conclude is just 'different'!
). I was unable to look at all of the wonderful tutorials and take advantage of those amazing tools... (my brain is working differently now).
I also wanted the image to be raw, so it took me out of my comfort zone... sometimes somehow one prefers the immediacy of a shaded version and the possibility to edit in the go rather than waiting to the 'perfect render' to show... (maybe this will change when I can use a proper image card? LOL).
One can say that the tenderness and playfulness of the girl and the tiny hummingbird is conveyed through contrast/temperature (cold -blueish ambiance and orange-ish figures), movement/flow (different spots of light through the main cloth enveloping and dance along the girl's body--> changed the dimensions and also one veil for a vaporous skirt), face expression and poses (again, thanks so much for the input!)... hope you can notice
oops... I almost forget: the hair is for gen2-3 and the character is gen8... so to make it poseable I merged a gen 3 with the gen8 and then hide it... I know, it was before the RSSY new release this week!) ...
@rcbcgreenpanzer: your scene is a jest! Agreed with Kismet2012 and Shinji Ikari 9th... so relatable... I like the poses and the expressions very much!
@lapetiteverita: your scene has some poetic nature in the contrast of the dance and the ambiance it develops... made me think about the beauty of the shadow form cast upon the concrete, wonderful imagery!
@Shinji Ikari 9th, I agree with everyone else, what a genius light touch!
Vpaintersue: fascinating to look at your delicate display on lightning... like the depth of your post #41!
@Sueya: Your Version 6 conveys an elegant timelessness... beautiful lighting touch!
@bastian: lovely way to light your scene with your characters glow!
So love the kindness of this community! Thanks for your inspiration!
Finally, this is the image with PW (PS and CSP)--> NOT an entry (couldn't resist!!!!--- I know, still needs work to do on it, hope you like it anyway
)
Thanks for the opportunity to learn and to share... have a wonderfully productive weekend everyone!
@Sisyphus1977xxI like how you managed to work with your 2 versions all along the way! The moonlight have an indefinable magic within...
tried something different, used a back ground in daz because the more layers i add to the more it seemed to bler in post work. it seams to have improved a bit.