I made a quick render of an archviz type scene to practice lighting. I based my work on this render here.
I was not intending to copy this image 100%, and I used free blenderkit assets to quickly draft out a scene. I really just want to practice lighting here, the composition etc., is not really the main focus. That being said the reference image is pretty amazing.
So, my attempt: the first image just uses a HDRI, and some emission from the lamp. This is rendered at 500 samples with denoising. This is a fake room - no ceiling or left side wall.
This image uses HDRI and extra area lamps. This is a “full” room with ceiling and enclosed walls. I think this image is worse overall, but I do like the reflections on the pastel panels at the back.
I think one problem in both images is a general lack of shadow depth/contrast. I also find it hard to wrap my head around how the reference image is somehow brighter and darker at the same time (when I try increasing the contrast post-processing I can never make this look better).
Honestly I’m just not really sure where to go however to improve photorealism here.
In your rendering the light and shadows are very diffuse.At the reference pic you can see the shadows,and on the shadows angles the light direction.
Instead of a HDRI you could try the skytexture as lightsource for better control of the light,especially the direction to get the same shadows.
I’ve had mixed success with sky textures in the past, but here it certainly adds something (thanks!). I probably should have adjusted the altitude a bit however, it’s more yellow than I was aiming for. I really wish I had a more powerful machine though, it’s killer trying to live preview this and then render it out only to see mistakes crop in.
I also learned something else - I didn’t realise setting a colour ramp with object info > random would randomise each time you opened the scene (that’s why two of my panels changed colour). Should have just made new material copies for them instead, but oh well.
