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Here’s the 2nd version of my first image. I adjusted the lamp so it’s not floating. Fixed her lip ring so it’s piercing through below the lip rather than directly on it. I narrowed and adjusted her positioning within the crop so her visible eye is on the thirds line on the left… also cropping off some of the excess portion of the background. Increased the cornea bulge so it has a rounder quality to it, rather than flat. Increased the hair volume so there is less of the floating loose wispy strands. And added DOF to the shot to increase focus on the subject along with darkening the cityscape portion of the background.
Here is my update to my "Selfie" scene. So I had some problems with the scene and explored the use of canvanses, which led me to rendering this version as canvanses due to the lighting setup. There are six light sources in this scene and making adjustments to those lights, rendering out either the scene or spot renders to see what the changes were was taxing on my PC and just taking too long. So I set up separate canvanses for each light source, set the tone mapping settings to linear (crush blacks to 0, burn highlights to 1 and gamma to 1) and rendered out the canvanses as EXR files. Brought those over to Affinity Photo, as it was easier to work with those files than GIMP (I don't have Photoshop), and for the EXR layers, set them to "add", added an exposure adjustment layer to the top of the layer stack and used the opacity setting for each of the EXR layers to adjust the lighting.
Nice, the DOF really improves it and the darker background works well, too. I like, how the ceiling lights form a line to her eye. Unfortunately you lost some light on her face when moving her, so maybe add a bit of a fill light to brighten her up again? Nothing too bright though, you want to keep the shadows from your keylight. And only do this if needed after trying the stuff I‘ll mention below.
Regarding the cropping: I was actually referring to cropping in post, not moving her around :) but it definitely looks a lot calmer without the light in the left background. I‘d try putting her piercing or the nose on the third line, which could cover that plant behind her and that ceiling ring on the top right of her head :)
Now, I take the risk that you’re starting to hate me ;) Due to moving her, she doesn’t seem to be looking in the camera anymore, I hope this could easily be fixed without looking weird in her current pose. If not, you could try moving her back to the original position and do the cropping in post. Or if you really like to experiment with your image, you could try mirroring her pose, so she tilts the head to the right, pointing in the image. Maybe this helps also with the overall composition (currently the right side of the image nicely points at her, and she would complement that then by looking back inside the image) and fixes some ‚look at‘-issues, too. But maybe it destroys everything and I wasted your time :-D
So overall I think it is a great improvement, key takeaways from my post are: make her look at the camera and get the background right behind her calmer (light brown wood on the left, that ring-thing on the top right and the plant. Not sure how easy it would be with the environment you’re using, but having just the ceiling texture from the right everywhere without the additional geometry would be perfect.)
The pink patches look like poke through. It is frustrating when they only show up in the final render. You can try turning off her "skin" since the outfit is complete and you will not empty space showing.
I agree the posing is a little stiff but not everyone is great at posing for a camera.
It is a great start. I am looking forward to where this goes.
The DOF is really bringing the focus to their faces.
The DOF is working here as well. Really makes the figures pop and the background become less distracting.
I like her posing and your choice of camera angle and image size. What is bothering me at the moment is the disparity between the cityscape in the background and the building she is occupying. They do not seem to match. Perhaps applying some DOF will help.
Much better. Nice pouty look.
Nice double/triple? portrait. This is an interesting variation on the infinity images of mirrors on opposite walls.
Cool, I love that slightly annoyed expression of hers and that hair strand in her face.
I would try to crop the right side more, so there’s only a tiny bit of space left between her feet and the image border. This would move her head more on the third line at the same time.
With the blur I‘d suggest experimenting: do one in which her feet already start to become blurry and one in between. Then decide which one looks best. But yes, I‘d add more blur. In case you do not blur the background more, I‘d suggest removing the plant behind her feet. It interferes a bit with them. (Thinking of my last comment, one could think I don’t like plants ;) )
A tiny thing: there’s something bright behind her right hand‘s fingers which looks weird to me.
I can’t suggest much more at the moment, just two general things I can’t foresee the outcome of in case you’re in the mood for experiments:
try rotating the camera along its axis (both directions, but I guess getting her head in the lower third and the feet in the upper could add an interesting touch)
try putting something in the foreground in the bottom right corner to create more depth (the plant? :D )
I have a second entry for the month, still trying to figure out if I can improve the first one too.
Rendered in Daz Studio Iray, Post work done in Paintshop Pro 2019: cropped from full body (not able to post here) added selective focus, vignette, and "time Machine" look which added the border.
I included the original crop to show how it looked after render before post work.
Comments, Crits and advise always welcome.
Title: Timeless Beauty
@gordig - That's really nice! The hair flow along with the DOF makes it looks like they were caught in motion.
@testingtesterson35 - What Punky said. That flyawy hair across her face is a great posing detail.
@marjomartino - I don't see anything I'd change about that picture. I love the vintage look.
My third go at the Kala scene with very minor changes, mostly adjusting the DOF. This may end up being the final version of this one.
I thought I'd take a shot at a more traditional portrait with 3-point lighting, since I've pretty ardently stuck to naturalistic lighting and more situation-based renders.
She Knows
Hi friends,
I'm working on a style of render which requires light to be isolated. This can then be blended in photoshop. From my research, this method are preferred by pro artists.
Creation steps:
1. Base layer - HDRI only.
2. Blue layer - Blue rim light
3. Red layer - Red rim light
Postworks step:
1. Blend the 3 layer above using 'Screen'. Blue or red layer strength are adjusted using photo filter if required.
2. Merge the 3 layer above into Final 0.10.
3. Adjust the midtones, contrast of Final 0.10, save as 0.20.
4. Sharpen for final output, save as 0.30.
5. Create a new Blue and Red layer (rims only), then create multiple copy of gaussian blur layers as "Soft Glow".
6. Adjust opacity of "Soft Glow" onto 0.30, save as Final 1.00.
Would love to hear which steps are necessary, can be removed, etc. Thanks.
Not finished, but the is my second entry. I am kinda thinking no DoF on this... I went with an ultra-bright light in the front as though there was an open window and I'm using that to seperate her from the background, but I want the background as well to be something worth looking at. I modified multiple materials with different shaders to brng the outfit together and match her nail polish.
Hello everyone, almost new to posting on this forum, although I've been lurking from some time. Here is my submission, hope you'll like it :)
Bored in the Party
Rendered in Daz Studio 4.11, Iray. No post, just tone mapped (rendered in canvas). Character is G8M+Growing Up+may morphs (face and body morphs packages). Skin is Luca + Altern8.
@Punky Just really want to give you (and others) a really big thank you for such specific feedback on how to improve this render. I definitely will not be hating you for this ;) I truly appreciate all your all your valuable input. It really helps me understand how to do better portraits for future work I'm doing. I will try adjusting her position or turning her head slightly as you mentioned, this should in turn block that additional distracting ceiling geometry. As her position or head is turned to the right (and towards the camera), it should also bring a little more light on to her face... I'm just not sure yet if that will lose the shadows or not. I can easily just discard the plant directly behind her, but the ceiling isn't something that is adjustable with this environment... unless I create new material zones and start messing with the geometry editor I guess. So I'm not really sure what to do about the light colored ceiling portion to the left of her head, if it's just the color difference that is distracting I guess I could attempt to burn-brush it in post to darken that area.
Btw I worked on a couple other renders and modeling project to kind of clear my mind of this, to refresh that is. It's what I typically do to clear up my head when I've been hyper-focused on a single piece of work for an extended period. But this image (these 2 images) are definitely my focus to get them fixed up right, above anything else I might have worked on in the meantime... the other stuff was just kind of practice/test filler material. I'll post up my corrections as soon as I have them done. Thanks again!
I see what you mean @Kismet2012. There actually is a tiny bit of DOF, it probably just needs more. I darkened the cityscape background too which didn't come out too well, it's definitely created a greater disparity between the foreground/background... now looks like the building she's in is a cutout or something, or vice-versa. I think too much contrast on that background so I'll try adjusting with stronger DOF and less contrast. I appreciate the feedback, thank you.
@punky I'll experiment with the different DOF like you mentioned, and try cropping tighter on the right side. Yeah you're out to destroy any non-human organic matter that comes indoors it seems haha ;). Really thankful you showed up and took the time to help out on both my images, especially since your initial intention was to enter with the portrait of your own. It's very unselfish of you and can't tell you how much it's benefiting me to get a better grasp on making cleaner looking portrait renders. Same goes for @Kismet2012 @ariochsnowpaw @Linwelly and all the other contributors here. @Fishtales too, you've posted some incredibly valuable information numerous times that I've learned a lot from. All the voluntary helping hands from you all are what make this such an awesome one of a kind challenge... thank you!
@punky So I'll give everything you mentioned a try and will post up the render(s) whenever I have them done. Hope you also get some time to work on your own wonderful artwork too, can't wait to see more future work from you.
love the look on his face. looks like any boy getting an ear full about one thing or another. if you plan to stick with the party theme adding a few people in the background would help sell it.
Really nice effect. Thank you for providing the original, pre-postwokred image as a comparison.
I am drawn to her eyes which is generally what you want in a portrait. I do love that hat.
If there are enough morphs the tail of her hair could be adjusted. It looks like it might be intersecting slightly with her arm.
Nice facial expression. It looks like you went for a strong rim light which really brings out her hair.
I like where you positioned her in the frame. Great use of coloured lights. They really show up quite well in her hair.
If I want to get really nit picky there are 2 things I would adjust. Her hair hanging down from her right shoulder should be hanging straight down. It is currently following her arm.
The 2nd thing is pulling back the camera slightly. The tips of her index and middle fingers are being cut off by the edge of the image.
Nicely done.
Since there are still a few days left of July, I decided to enter another picture. This one was actually going sort of well until I decided that "Hey, let's enter it!" Then the cooperative mood was apparently over, because it lighted like trash, despite my best efforts. It's mostly the characters' skin that came out grainy and terrible. Everything else looks decent to me, at least, but I hate the look of their skin. What can I do to improve that?
Did you add or change any of the shaders on the background? All that stone has a shiny appearance to me like the stone was wet. The use of a lighter colour background really helps your figure stand out in her dark outfit. The blond hair really frames her face and draws the eye.
Great start.
Going to get nit picky here but is the elbow touching the table? It could be the camera angle but it looks like the elbow is floating slightly above the table top.
I agree with dragoneyes002 that the addition of a couple of people in the background would help sell the party idea. They do not have to be super detailed since you have such strong DOF applied. Very effective use of the DOF. It really brings the focus to the face of your character.
Thanks @dragoneyes002 and @Kismet2012 for your feedback and suggestions!. I also thought it looked like his elbow is not touching the table, I've checked it earlier using the front view and looked fine to me; I initially thought it might be caused by the glass table....until I checked again today and yes, it looks like it's sliiightly hovering it. Will try to get around this on a second take.
As per the crowd, challenge accepted :) will try to come up with something. Again, many thanks for you suggestion.- stay tuned!
I did not do anything to stone. it's worn, polished marble. I am working on I THINK the final for it now... The lipstick is giving me some trouble against the dark skin. She is forced to suffer for her beauty. :)