This guy is my attempt at real atmospheric lighting, but it feels like it’s missing something, any comments or suggestions?
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squid.blend (2.98 MB)
I think the scale is slightly too ridiculous to be scary.
Is that an eye?
The composition is fairly flat.
The sea feels too homogenous.
Keep up the great work!
adding a few particles, like dirt/air bubbles, would give image depth. Also air bubbles at the propeller since it would try to give it full power to get away from it.
With regards to light. Try using a noise texture on the light source to give it slight variance.
Main question, what is the source of the light? Generally we are used to seeing water be either blue or greenish tint in various movies/pictures. So if you want realism go for those colours.
I think the eye is a bit distracting. It looks actually a bit more atmospheric when I cover it with my hand.
Maybe you can try doing some texture on the eye, so it does not look like a flat yellow circle or more three-dimensional.
The second one is a bit to bright or has not enough contrast. I would try keeping it darker. And the tentacle are a bit to straigth, so it does not look light enough to be under water.
But really like the under water/ sea monster theme!
try to show the arms a second before they touch the sub. if you want to make it scary, the victim should seem to have a chance to escape.