Sky Ranch - Sky Ascent

[glorybound]

I have pulled off these twilight shots before, but I am having a hard time to make things work. Whatcha think? Maybe it is my HDRI, any suggestions? I tried a Guthrie one, but it was wacky, so I bailed.

[hoppergrass]

it a tricky one. the bright sun light is pulling my eye to the garage and the leafy grass, but the shadows are hiding the interesting architecture. Is it possible to rotate the sun so the light catches the corner with the stairs ? I like what the play of the fireplace, maybe work it up more by brightening up that window, same with the porch light.

[glorybound]

Yeah, I am playing with it now.

[glorybound]

Fresh look... my tall Aspen trees suck, but I can't find anything good. Also, I am trying light behind the camera, coming through the trees, but I think the light in front of the camera might work.

[andybot_cg]

That was my initial though - add some fill light from the direction of the camera.

[glorybound]

I think the trees are killing it, too. I have looked high and low for some high-quality tall Aspens, but I can't find anything. I did some looking at twilight photography and most of the nice stuff has the light from behind the building, so I am trying that.

[andybot_cg]

Could you also re-position the trees that are out of the field of view that are shading the house so that the light falls higher up on the house?

[particlerealities]

I think it just needs a little more exposure. I played with it in Lightroom - hope you don't mind.

[glorybound]

I went that route too, however, it started to look more like a day scene.

[andybot_cg]

You could also increase the intensity of the artificial lighting to get more contrast.

[glorybound]

Still not 100%, but better and moving in the right direction.

[OPEN_RANGE]

The lighting in the dusk version looks odd to me. The tree on the left and the back of the Adirondack type chair looks like they maybe are being lit from a different direction/ source then the building? Maybe there are two lights in the scene? HDRI plus sun but not aligned with each other?

[joconnell]

Get some evidence! Grab a photo from any stock site or an architectural site and use it as your target!

[glorybound]

Yeah, the night needs some help. I thought I was going in the right direction until I look at it now.

[tvc15]

Chairs are too bright from the sunset light and would likely be shaded by the woods. Even if there was a lake behind us instead of forest the chairs are just too bright in the composition.