Blender 4.x Cycles Photorealism Improvements...still not quite there for me

[joseph (J)]

Yes, I’ve seen quite a lot. This is a great place to start your search:
https://blenderartists.org/tag/landscapes/l/top?period=all
This one, for example, passes the standard of “looks photorealistic” to me:

Stranded

A quick environment setup in Blender. ( Buildings are assembled with a 3d scanned model of The former Royal Doulton Building by artflech ) background score: From Last of us Part 2 [1] [Screenshot (617)] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrZsIuko37U [Screenshot (600)] [Screenshot (602)] [Screenshot (603)] [Screenshot (608)]

Might not to you, but again, that’s the inherent problem with “looks photorealistic”… who’s to say definitively?

This is another one that passes my personal test:

Fisherman’s House

This 3D scene depicts a small island in the middle of a lake. The island is covered in lush vegetation, including trees, bushes, and flowers. There is a small house on the island, made of wood. The house has a rusty roof and a small porch. A pickax, shovel, and ladder are propped against the side of the house. There is also a handmade bench on the other side of the house near the water. The distance landscape, mountain, and billboard trees were also created by me in Blender. The scene was creat…