Landscape design renderings C&C....

[windrockwater]

I am getting that "I have been staring at this too long" feeling and could use some constructive comments. If you have any manageable tweaks or recommendations on how I can finalize these renders, then please fire away! I am using a daylight system. I am still monkeying with HDRI but never get it quite right.

Some issues that I seem to constantly be struggling with are:
-always seem to have overexposed, blown out areas
-overall faded out renders
-color correcting or color balancing is all over the place
-still learning Vray materials settings for things like reflections on metal, glass, etc.
-my backplate skies are pretty sad

[plastic_]

A few points:

The people are freaky.
The grass is too puffy, esp. in the first frame. It looks like fur.
Don't think too much about overblown areas, it's no big deal. Your images look underexposed to me.
The framing is a bit too tight, you crop parts of the house in favor of rather unimportant foreground elements. I feel like offsetting every image frame about 20% upwards.
If you want to focus on the garden, I'd take some steps back with the camera.
There is a lot of potential for further post processing with photoshop.

[windrockwater]

Thanks alot. I think i understand and agree with your comments. I am going to try some of the changes. Cheers.

[ajroane]

Here are my suggestions:
1) Spherical 360 panorama images almost never look right when used as a flat background. Even if it is a great image, the resolution alone is usually enough to cause problems. They are great for using in dome lights, environments, etc...but replace the background with a flat backplate in Photoshop. See the popular 'paguthrie' skies at 3DOcean. His environments come with flat backplates that match the 360 panorama.
2) Are you using a linear workflow (gamma 2.2)? Learn how to set that up if you haven't already. That may help with some lighting issues.
3) Daylight systems are overated, they rarely allow enough freedom to create great renderings. HDRI's can be great, but try to define the mood of a rendering first, then find ways to get your lighting to match the mood.
4) Use the rule, "If it looks right, then it is right." If you think something looks odd, then there is no shame in tweaking it so that it looks right. Renderings are almost never perfect right out of Max. Embrace photoshop.
5) Marc talked a little about composition. I agree with him about offsetting the frame. Try to get the horizon line, whether seen or hidden, away from the middle of the image.

[windrockwater]

1) Spherical 360 panorama images almost never look right when used as a flat background. Even if it is a great image, the resolution alone is usually enough to cause problems. They are great for using in dome lights, environments, etc...but replace the background with a flat backplate in Photoshop. See the popular 'paguthrie' skies at 3DOcean. His environments come with flat backplates that match the 360 panorama.
2) Are you using a linear workflow (gamma 2.2)? Learn how to set that up if you haven't already. That may help with some lighting issues.
3) Daylight systems are overated, they rarely allow enough freedom to create great renderings. HDRI's can be great, but try to define the mood of a rendering first, then find ways to get your lighting to match the mood.
4) Use the rule, "If it looks right, then it is right." If you think something looks odd, then there is no shame in tweaking it so that it looks right. Renderings are almost never perfect right out of Max. Embrace photoshop.
5) Marc talked a little about composition. I agree with him about offsetting the frame. Try to get the horizon line, whether seen or hidden, away from the middle of the image.

Good stuff. I just got rid of the daylight system and replaced it with a dome light with an HDRI sphere map applied along with a Vray sun and already the renderings have much more 'punch'. I am sharpening my chops in Photoshop too. Simply adjusting the colors of some objects and materials using PSD manager is making a big improvement. Good catch on the sky backplate too. Sometimes it is hard to see the "forest thru the trees" if you know what i mean....