Hey everyone. Just finished a new still. I was torn between the decision of going night or day, so I made two versions. I consider the night time version to be the “official” version for the still (for lack of a better term). But I also really liked the warm colors of the day time (although it kind of contrasts with the ominous concept).
Comments and Critique very much appreciated. Please let me know what you think.
To be honest, and great work by the way, I like the day time one better. I don’t know why, but I look at the night time one and to me it seems like a simple scene, as the they day time one almost comes out to a story like scenario about to be told. Call me crazy.
OrchidFace - Kick your feet up and enjoy the day, you’ve got a very nice render there.
Your not crazy. I really like the day time one too. I think it just looks better with the warmer color pallet because of all the browns and such in the room. The reason why I like them equally is just because the attic seems more “secret” at night, i guess, despite the fact the day looks a little more pleasing to the eyes.
Thankyou very much for the compliments. Your right, I think a 24 hour CG hiatus is in order :).
I like the mood and atmosphere of this place and i think both version look cool
Great image u got there, thanks for sharing.
Love the ambient setup!
Both of these versions are reasonable expressions of more-or-less the same thing … and, as such, they have the same photographic flaws. (What you did between the two of them is just a change in “color grading.”)
The first issue that I would raise with this one is that you have a lot of areas in which there is no detail in the shadows. For instance, the area at “three o’clock.” You’ve got a very large area of opaque black shadow there, which is never good.
The second issue, a little more subtle, is that you have a particularly interesting object there … the model ship … which does not now have any of the very subtle, almost unnoticeable accenting that I think it should have.
You see, when the human eye regards a “photograph,” we naturally look for (first…) the brightest and the most contrasty part of the scene. (Unfortunately for you, that’s not the light in the window of the doll-house: it’s the big round window in the back, lighted or not.) But, from that point, we look for a path. From one slightly accented scene-element to the next, leading in a circular path back to the starting point.
Now, at this point you could actually do this in two-D, by means of “burning in” and “dodging” the “print” that you now have. Experiment with this. (Note that you will have to shoot a brighter version so that you get some detail in those shadows that you can work with, because right now you have none.)
thanks for the feedback guys! Thanks for the advice sundialsvc4, I will take it into consideration.
Other than what has been mentioned already, it lacks dust, cobwebs and such. It looks like someone spent a week cleaning and shining everything in the attic. I wouldn’t expect to see an attic that pristine.
Thanks for the crit maspier. Your right, cobwebs would have been a good idea. I definitely agree it looks a little too clean. I wanted to put a little fog to make it look dusty but I ran out of time (this was for the weekend challenge). I did, however, put considerable dirt, grime, and imperfections in all the textures. I guess that went unnoticed. I’ll increase grungification levels next time :).
what renderer are using ? Try use AO in Blender Internal or the Luxrender. I like the night one, but it is too evenly lit.
I didn’t get the dirty part. The textures make everything look very old (as they should in this case), but clean.
Oh well… It’s a minor issue. It looks great.
You guys are right I think there should have been more shadows, and more implied depth. I’m using blender internal, and there already is AO used quite heavily.
Oh! Haha that makes me feel a lot better. I was under the incorrect impression that you didn’t fancy the still as a whole (Of course, your first comment was still very constructive and appreciated).
I love it! Especially the night scene. It makes the doll house much more creepy. The daylight scene kind of drowns out the light from the dolhouse’s window.
It is very well done, just too clean.
nice work, orchidface.
i’d go with the day version aswell. the idea with the light in the window of the model still works good enough, even there’s some more light in the attic room. the colors are just much nicer aswell.
but i do agree. there’s something missing in the atmosphere, giving it the last final touch. like a volumetric light with dust parts in it or more dirt and spiders web as suggested before or maybe some light coming through small gaps in the roof planking… (that one only if you don’t mind having the house look very old and shaggy 
