Studio Photography Video Tutorials/Lecture

V-Ray V-Ray Common Off-topic
1

When it comes to rendering, I would say good photorealism is 75% lighting and environment. You could take an average model, toss it into Max and it will look bad. Throw in a HDR, and the average model begins to look very realistic. Same applies to an outdoors photo - take an overcast day and take a photo, it will look alright. The subject remains the subject. Take the same photo on a different vibrant day, and the photo could look 100X better.

I would probably say that most of the best 3D photorealistic artists are also pretty good photographers or have a background in understanding photography. From talking with them, I know that Peter (over at Chaosgroup), Lele, and Zuliban are very much into photography.

What I am attempting to say in a nutshell is that lighting and environment are probably the most single important aspect (beyond a rendering engine) to creating a very good scene. Of course, I am not an expert in these areas, but I think they would agree.

I thought some of you would find these photography videos handy:

(1 of 8 ) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lsRu90jE88
(2 of 8 ) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9crGU-QRCZE&feature=related
(3 of 8 ) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUJ\_nV4UXcQ&feature=related
(4 of 8 ) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMY\_uWZRNEg&feature=related
(5 of 8 ) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4PK7gddT\_s&feature=related
(6 of 8 ) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJugEUrqCH4&feature=related
(7 of 8 ) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t49wbabsM5E&feature=related
(8 of 8 ) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oFWgGIWRRM&feature=related

2

Thanks for posting this :smile: I will be checking out all the videos!

3

I should probably add that Torgeir (EGZ) over at vray.info and Richard Rosenman (judging from what I’ve seen on his website of his HDR library) are also phenomenal 3D artists that are pretty skilled with cameras. I really hope you guys don’t mind me adding you to this list here.

I’d be interested to know if Nichols, Throb, Morbid, and ReRender are into photography as well. Please forgive me if I’ve left any of you experts out!!!

4

nice one juju

5

It’s informational - granted it’s almost all portrait photography, but he does go into how to light subjects pretty well which should apply to product renderings.

6

I think a main reason I was hired (while having hardly any 3d knowledge) 2 years ago was because of photography.
I couldnt use max at all, but when I sent some work over it was in an open directory with some pictures too - which moved me from ‘no skills, waste of time’ to ‘we can teach him those skills though…’

Buying an SLR was one of the best things ive done, even if you just get a cheap one, a good manual camera is worth owning.

7

Agreed. Canon XTI’s have come down so much in price in the US that it’s ridiculous not to own one if you’re a professional 3d person. Four months ago it was $800, and now it’s around $350.

It does everything you need it to do. If it’s a bad photo that you’re taking, you really can’t blame it on the camera at that point.