this is a scene I made some time ago. It was not looking so good as I wanted. Now as I started to learn nodes I decided to remake it. Here are three renders. The first is the original - not so good. The second is the one with nodes. And because I like to experiment with my models - here is the third one, it is really just an experiment, nothing more
Actually the differences between the first and the second one is not only the use of compositing nodes with the second one. I have changed the lightning too - from spot to area lamps, repositioned them too and added two new lamps and an image texture to the one to the left. So I made some progress and like the second render the most.
it is hard to discern where the fruits are. like they are on a very white plastic glossy tabletop thing that may have an edge or not.
In the middle image, I can see speckles - not good - like cheap AO or some sample size not high enough. The middle has more depth in the reflections, and thus is better.
I doubt it’s possible to achieve a good composition with those low-saturation fruits on a white polished ground.
What I would try:
using a different material for the table, something like gray silk or grey cotton. An old wooden table might also be worth trying. In any case, preferably something which gives more contrast to the fruits and even has some texture to it. It’ll make the whole image so much more interesting.
You could also decrease the transparency of the fruits. Adding some fresnel could really help here.
And, like always, still lives, especially those of small-scale objects, scream for a photorealistic renderer. If you’re not absolutely going for the internal renderer or want to animate this trying alternatives like Yaf(a)ray and Indigo is worth a shot.
PapaSmurf, you are right - the grainyness is due to low samples of the area lamps. I setup that so because of the long rendering times and had to increase them for the final render. I didn’t do that because I thought it wasn’t so bad, but you are right it is not good.
konrad_ha, I like the ‘high key’ feeling and that is why I made this composition with this white background. I will try to find time to work on it once more and will try your suggestions too!
