Hello, fellow Blenderheads, and Happy New Year!
On holidays tried to render something photorealistic, and got this:
However, my GF who isn’t much into CG said resolutely that it fails to look like a real photo.
And here’s I got my head scratched. Because apparently there is something wrong with this render, but I just can’t find out, what it is exactly.
Thank you for any kind of tips!
The ‘rusted metal’ looks smooth, but rusted metal is not smooth.
The ‘rusted metal’ has the same reflectivity all over, but the reflectivity of rusted metal varies.
There are no patterns of wear, everything is uniform.
Where the handle is, you would see more wear, a haze of grime from a thousand hands touching the surface.
The loop of the handle has a certain amount of play in it, it would probably swing and rattle, rubbing against the door behind it, metal rubbed wood looks different from hand rubbed wood.
The slide for the lock would have parts that are near polished from the motion of sliding over and over again, the places where hands touch it would have a different finish.
Would the carriage bolts, the handle loop, the flat strap that attaches the handle loop and the body of the lock all be made of exactly the same metal, with exactly the same rust?
How is the bottom part of the latch attached to the door frame?
If the metal got that rusty, its safe to assume it probably got wet. if it was getting wet, there would probably be some trace of the rust being washed down over the wood.
Realism isn’t about high res textures or the best HDRI environment, it’s about capturing the feeling of a scene. and a huge part of that feeling is the dynamic interactions that happened before the image is recorded. Weathering is a process that is tied to its context. Considering how these pieces Weather and wear together will open the door to creating a realistic scene.
Thanks a lot for comments, I clearly see now, where the problems are.
Interestingly, I tried to make rusty areas to affect roughness in Cycles’ principled shader, but the resulting effect appears to be not good enough. Thanks again.
I think the lighting is a tad too uniform. Are you using just a HDRI or similar?
All people mentioned important points already, but I’d like to add in and repeat what BlenderGuru said in one of his videos. Make a choice, do you want it clean or messy?
In this one, you have both. It sends a mixed message. The rust on the metal frames send the message that it has been weathered and worn down from the external surrounding; however, the wood material sends the opposite message. It’s too clean and hasn’t been weathered down. Hence, that’s why it feels “off.”
Suggestions:
Add moss, rustic stains, cracks, and maybe lichens. 
That might help to make everything fit in better.
Thanks, that’s quite a point.
Nope, some quite abstract background to ensure colorization and a emitting plane with constant light falloff and softness to ensure mild shadows.
i really like the idea of that work !
to my eyes, the way the lock sits in the the two metal loops doesn’t look natural. Gravity wouldn’t allow that angle and position.
Currently, it looks as if an invisible hand would hold it up
Second, i would agree that the lighting looks a bit flat, some more shadow could make the render
more interesting, BTW, the lock casts almost no shadow…
anyway, nice work
defstone
research, simply (always) use & study references before going blind (using imagination)
/ just stumbled upon a suitable one 
I recommand a specualar, normal and bump map. gives is a pretty awesome kick.
and for the really advanced stuff filmic blender
I would recommend: specular, normal and bump map to give it the kick u want
and for a more advanced thing maybe filmic blender
if u have questions about my feedback PM me
