I’ve been staring at this in my off time for a few days now and I need some fresh sets of eyes on it. Trying to get it that last little ways towards realism but I haven’t been able to nail down exactly what I need to change.
I have spotted a few things that may help:
Make branches blend better with tree trunks and fallen trees
Add a wetness map to the trees and maybe the rocks that darkens and glosses the upper and windward sides of the trees
Add more fading textures into the tree base
Add one or two pore types of foliage, preferably something creeping that I can place in strategic areas
I would step away from the forest for now and concentrate on your composition. Right now you have a box, smack dab in the center of a forest scene. Give the viewer something more interesting to view… you have all the elements, just change the view, focus on the piano, and its relationship to the forest. Check out the “Rule of Thirds” or “Golden Ratio”, that will help to get a more interesting composition…a few things collected to help…
Your forest looks great! I would add moss to the trees instead of wetness maps. The fallen trees have it, but the living ones don’t, which seems unusual.
The fallen trees provide some great lines. I can see where you wouldn’t want to adjust the composition in regards to the scene… perhaps the subject could be made more prominent.
I would scale the piano up a little, rotate it on the Z axis (not quite in line with the fallen trees), bring it forward and right a smidge, and tilt the camera down (to better see the keys).
I really appreciate your analysis, I will definitely re-evaluate the composition. I do however want to keep it fairly central as one end result for the image is to use it with an audio spectrum on both sides. I guess I probably will just make a few different viewpoints. One thing I’m really liking about the images you found are the different damage and foliage reference they provide. Super useful!
I definitely agree that you should focus more on the piano. Add some note sheets or something saying “I’ll be back in a sec to continue my masterpiece”.
