Christmas Pyramid

Artwork Focused Critiques
#1

Hi Everyone,

I entered the BlenderGuru Christmas competition for the first time this year, and it was quite fun…I haven’t entered any contests in a LOONG time. In any case, I was pleased with my image overall but I saw that the quality of the winners was a definite step (or more) above my own…but I’m not entirely sure what I could have done to raise the level of my entry.

Here are some of my ideas:

  • Story of the image isn’t clear, or is just not dramatic enough.
  • Lighting is uninspired (I think the AO is cranked up too high so it flattens the lighting).
  • Maybe Depth-of-field would focus the image more?
  • Some objects don’t have enough detail (cushions, for instance).
  • Camera angle is not chosen correctly?

Thoughts? Thanks in advance!

finalRenderBG.png720×1280 1.34 MB

#2

looks a bit spartan, I would maybe widen the angle and add more stuff. perhaps some snack mix in an etched glass bowl or something.
(edit) btw, when doing something like snack mix in a bowl, the physics engine comes in quite handy.
(edit) or what about a yo-yo made out of tinted transparent acrylic with a nice tinted shadow.

#3

Interesting, thanks for the ideas. I considered adding more Christmasy decorations like a nutcracker and a bowl of nuts, or just a bowl of nuts like you suggested, but I didn’t want to make it too busy to detract from the main focus of the pyramid decoration. Maybe a cup full of candy canes… or maybe the background is just wrong, and I should’ve made it contain the Christmas tree or fireplace etc. Thanks!

#4

Perhaps you should experiment with different cropping - if you focus in more tightly on the object, it makes more sense why my eye should be drawn there, and then maybe we need less of the other things discussed.

#5

Not bad.
However,
id make it wide angle and put the main object more in the spot.
You could do this by widening you shot, putting the object on the left or right instead of middle and by blurring the background.
Hope this helps.

#6

Is this better?

christmas02.png480×640 422 KB

#7

As far as view, yes. Looks liek a bunch of fireflies got you though.

#8

Thanks!

haha, yes on the fireflies. I didn’t feel like waiting for the render. I’m unfortunately stuck with an ATI card for the foreseeable future so Cycles is dog-slow.

#9

Thanks for the comment on fireflies…I did some research and found some tips on how to decrease noise and eliminate fireflies, yay! I thought I just needed to amp up the samples. Thanks so much!

Here’s an update with better lighting (imho). It’s meant to look like the glow from a fireplace and there are very subtle colors simulating a Christmas tree on the right side of the image. Very very subtle.

christmas04.png480×640 482 KB

#10

Looks much better, and the lighting is really setting the mood now