Today I wanted to share with you my last project. The interesting thing about it is the backstory on why the clients even contacted us: The thing is, they already had technically very okay looking visuals for their project. But they still lacked something - authenticity and atmosphere. So, with the last small part of their budget they came to us, asking for exactly that - an quick and down-to-earth, but emotional view on their project. I built it up, played around with the cam positioning and lighting, and this is the result - simple, but impactful.
Sorry for the late reply - I forgot to enable notifications, so I had no clue someone answered.
Thank you for the kind words - the set up is very simple: Sun and Sky, that’s it. As it’s a commercial project, I made a daylight study and then just went with the lighting that best suited the atmosphere I was after, while still being realistic (it’s June, 6pm, in Germany).
The rest was photography work - just moving the camera around until I found interesting angles I liked.
Ok great to hear. I usually find myself going down a rabbit hole of colour correction, environment overrides etc. I guess you don’t have any of this going on then?
I find your balance of blue sky and bright highlights on the features to be so perfect. Something, as I said, I struggle with. I’d usually have such dark areas to compete with. So, if you have any other tips I’d be keen to hear them.
I usually try to get the best output possible, directly out of the VFB. There are two reasons for that:
Consistency | If I only have to deliver one image, then I could use all the render elements in post to get a desired result. If it’s more however, then it becomes quite tedious to get a consisten final result for all of them. That’s why I tend to go for the optimal results while still in Corona and then just do some fine tuning in post only.
Lazyness | The more I do in 3dm, the more flexible I am. Also, the more easy the post production is.
Generally, I try to go for a consistent and simple GI - it’s either Sun + Sky (very flexible, but no clouds etc.) or a good HDRI (not so flexible, but nice reflections and a ‘populated’ sky). Overrides are also an option, but I do them only when I have no other option (e.g. Worked with a photographer on an interior: He made a 360° of the surroundings, but it was not a HDRI with good illuminational value, so I used it to override the Environment, Reflections and Refractions, while still lighting up my scene with Sun and Sky).
As for the dark areas and highlights - don’t forget, there’s always post-production for that.
Which is sort of why I asked - I also want the most simple approach, but while also having the most realistic. I guess I’m also trying to avoid the Photoshop retouching, ultimately.
Also, I guess what we, as artists, sometimes forget is that photos are themselves often very re-touched and trying to get this style replicated in vfb is often not only difficult but against the rules of photorealism we’re originally employing.
Thanks for the thorough answer. I appreciate your time. Keep up the good work, mate
