Hi, guys!
Just wanted to do some nice simple nature scene using cycles. But seems to me it needs more tweaking, so critique is appreciated =)
imo, the vignette is not working for this image. also, i would add a gradient to the sky, perhaps a photo with a couple clouds even.
(edit) and welcome to blenderartists.
Looking good, Tess. Outdoor scenes usually don’t have vignettes, and are usually bright, if the sun is shining. In your render here I would suggest throwing in more environmental lighting, just for more ambient light, and maybe ambient occlusion too, if your computer can handle it.
For materials, a more realistic approach would be to make that black metal slightly grainy, like a rough reflection shader, to look more like metal. Blenderguru has an excellent Cycles materials tutorial here which would be worth your time. Excellent modelling, by the way.
Now it looks like the background is a picture… to have more control over how the background looks it’s always good to make it yourself, maybe using a picture as reference. But if you’re short on time and need a faster render, background pictures can be made quite convincing, easily. If you wanted to use a backdrop in this render, I’d recommend getting a higher resolution photo.
Something you could try to do for some extra pop would be setting up an offscreen group of leaf shapes, and then shining a light through them down onto the lamppost casting shadows onto its surface. That might not be the best way; you’d have to experiment to get it looking right.
Finally, after everything else is done, compositing can make the greatest render better. But subtlety is key - don’t over do it. I would suggest some glare to make it a little shinier overall.
Keep up the good work!
Honestly, I think that you could “call this one ‘finished.’” Especially if the setting is dark and low-key, such that you would not expect to see much surface detail anyhow. Being able to see evidence of the top hood and of the light components through the glass is a big plus. Particularly if the lantern is not the front-and-center star of the show, I think you can reasonably say about this one, “put the shrink-wrap on the sucker, and ship it.”
Thanks for your help, guys =) I’ve spent some time thinking it over and rendering and this is what I’ve come up with.
Oops, sorry, multipost. Didn’t find some obvious way to delete message:confused:
The same here =(
Arrrggghhh!! “Artistic” lens flare! :ba:
Trust me on this one … lens flare, in almost every case, is the best way to get your transparency thrown into the editor’s dust-bin. Especially if it obscures a key element of the subject, such as the post. This flare also creates a strong diagonal line leading straight to what is now the brightest part of the picture: presumably the moon. Therefore, “z-i-i-i-ipp! Don’t look at the lamp-post, go look at the moon!”
Your original was moody, but well-composed and well-exposed. It was, if I may say it plainly, IMHO much the better shot.