Sheldon: FruitBasket wip

#1

Here is my wip of the fruitBasket

  1. I am having a tough time getting the lighting in the dark areas
  2. I feel the lights on the plate are too hot but I left the intensity as is to see what you all say.
    Thanks for any crits in advance
#2

Hi Sheldon -

Please post your reference image. (If it’s on-line, just a link will do.)

It looks as if you have a light that isn’t shadowing properly, I see a blue glow beside the banana that especially looks like that… Go through your lights and test render with them isolated 1 at a time to see if you can isolate which one doesn’t shadow or which one is brightening the areas you want dark.

-jeremy

#3

Where is the original referance image ?

#4

Here is the reference

#5

Ah, OK.

So you’ve got a good start for the direct sunlight getting blocked off there into one rectangle. You might let it hit a little back onto the apple leaf, but that’s not a big deal.

The big concern with the sky fill is getting the gradient so it fades off into blackness as you head back deeper into the scene. Probably a spot light with its penumbra angle for the fade-off would be a good way to go. Just don’t let it light the back wall of the cloth, it should have ended even its penumbra by then. The highlights on the fruits in back under the shadow are just blue highlights from the sky.

Your bounce light looks much too bright, it’s like a rim coming up from the plate, especially on the orange and the banana, it looks as if the bounce coming up from the shadow areas underneath them is brighter than the surface below them that’s supposed to be the motivation for the bounce is darker. Anyway, the bounce should come last. Just render with the sun key and the sky fill, just those 2 lights, until you have the gradient going into pure black, then look at other lights. Probably there will be a tiny bit of fill from other angles too, maybe with some decay on it, but not until you’ve settled the issue of the areas that go too bright.

-jeremy

#6

So taking from the critiques here is my second attempt at the lighting.

This next image is only the fill + key light. Yes the plate and the specs are not in my key and fill lights

Thanks in advance for the crits.

#7

Ah, OK.

Get rid of those “plate and spec” lights, they aren’t shadowing properly and add to the glowy feeling that exists under the orange and under the bananas.

The key looks OK. Maybe the key in your reference is a little more overhead instead of coming quite that much from the side, but you’re at least close. We’ll talk in class about ways to make your shadows softer if that’s hard to figure out.

The fill isn’t working. Maybe the reason it isn’t lighting the plate is become it’s coming from below, through the plate? If so, raise it to simulate fill light from the sky. If you make use a spotlight for your fill, you can aim the it at the fruit and use the penumbra to make it fade out before it reaches the back wall, making a nice gradient into darkness.

-jeremy

#8

Critiques are most welcome

Thanks

#9

Hi Sheldon -

Everything in your scene looks much more harsh than the lighting in the reference picture. You have lots of razor-sharp shadows, the reference has mostly softer shading. You have lots of high-contrast edges where the edge of the fruit is a completely different tone than the fruit that it’s touching or the plate underneath it, in the reference image things that are touching having similar tones in the place where they touch. I think your bounce light is inconsistent, it looks too bright on the apple and too dark on the orange. It would be nice to see more of the blue-colored highlights, as appear on many of the fruits in your reference, too.

edit: I should also add that occlusion will help a LOT in your scene, I see occ between all the fruits in your reference…

-jeremy

#10


Last min crits are most welcome.
Also how can I do subractive lighting in photoshop? Do I simply take a render of the lights and do a multiply?
Thanks

#11

Looks tons better. The light falling on the grapes really helps give some depth and interest. The plate also has some nice shadowing/texturing going for it - before it was a large spot of red that really hindered the composition.

My only thought is that the contact shadows still don’t quite ring true. The shadows on the left grapes are really dark, while their shadow falling on the plate is much lighter. Again with the pear and apple. Looking at the reference, the shadows get pretty dark once you get one “layer” in, so the grapes on the right would have more deep shadows. Maybe try upping the AmbOccl even more to get some of these shadows in.

Hope my non-expert thoughts help…:slight_smile:

#12

Is that your new one? I can’t see the occlusion working there.

Everything looks a little too bright, except for the lower side of the grapes where they need bounce light.

Your best bet for darkening things is to use less light. Then in Photoshop you just put in a normal layer with your fill/bounce lights, then Multiply the occlusion pass, then Linear Dodge (aka Add) the main key light pass.

-jeremy

#13

I do have my occlusion pass.

Maybe I am doing this the wrong way…
In photoshop I am doing the following

  1. ambient layer (normal)
  2. occlusion layer (multiplied)
  3. bounce layers ( screened )
  4. keys (screened)
  5. plate and background lighting (screened )
    I was playing a little and I would duplicate layers and reduce the opacity like the key passes and the occlusion.

    god i suck at lighting…
#14

Just try 3 layers: first the fill and bounce lights, then the occlusion, and the key.

WHat you posted it doesn’t look as if the occlusion would be darkening the fill light on the plate, or the fill/bounce on the fruit.

-jeremy

#15

ok so feel free to call me stupid, but I think the occlusion was not working becuase it was right below and after doing some rearranging and as jeremy suggested I got this…


I have to remeber that; 1st the bounce and fill lights, then occlusion then the key light.

#16

Much better! You were just making things too complicated, it’s starting to look more normal now.

It would be nice to get some reflections on the fruit and plate, and maybe then the plate wouldn’t need so much diffuse illumination.

-jeremy

#17

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