Need help from Photographers!
Discussion
Hey all
I need some suggestions on camera settings, I have done no camera work apart from the (very) basics.
I'm trying to make my 3D creations look more realistic and wondered if there are usual camera settings people use for say morning, midday and dusk? Even approximates that I can then tweek depending on subject etc..?
This (badly compressed)image is lit by the sun at the 9am position, what would you use for this shot for example?
Any help would be appreciated!
Cheers
I need some suggestions on camera settings, I have done no camera work apart from the (very) basics.
I'm trying to make my 3D creations look more realistic and wondered if there are usual camera settings people use for say morning, midday and dusk? Even approximates that I can then tweek depending on subject etc..?
This (badly compressed)image is lit by the sun at the 9am position, what would you use for this shot for example?
Any help would be appreciated!
Cheers
Edited by carbonfootprint on Monday 21st April 22:06
carbonfootprint said:
Yeah the program has full camera settings - way too many things to adjust if you're not 100% sure what the effect will be!
I guess I just wondered if there is like a general rule of thumb for outside photography. At the moment just seem to adjust blindly until it looks ok
Try a 50mm lens, the problem you may get it that some packages don't let you specify a filmgate size.I guess I just wondered if there is like a general rule of thumb for outside photography. At the moment just seem to adjust blindly until it looks ok
Many just use a FOV value in degrees, 38 is probably similar to a 50mm lens.
If you have a depth-of-field (DOF) option that try enabling that - set the focal plane on the first glass. This will help to give a sense of scale to the picture, it'll blur the scene behind (and in front) of the focal plane.
For your scene, you are basically relying on the reflections to 'make' the image - i'd get as much reflected detail in as you can. Stuff like:
-Higher res bitmap for the table if possible.
-Bump map for the table.
-It looks like the light is coming from a point-light and some ambient light ? Do you have a 'skylight' option ? Can add a bit of detail to the shadows (but will slow the render a bit).
-Enviroment map - Clouds, something like that. (If you have an option to use an HDR file then that may work with your skylight as well).
Cheers.
Well it's a good start I have to say (having used 3DS Max for over ten years!) Your reflect/refract propertie on the glass look good, the map tiling on the table ain't bad, though some displacement mapping may be good. The biggest single gain I think would be to add a reflection map (with fall off) to the raytracer. IE the glass is good, but it's a reflective surface, and needs to be reflecting something, even if it's an abstract series of blocks etc. Google "reflection maps" and try a few.
Lighting wise, the light's quite low in the sky, so would maybe expect a bit more warmth to the light. Otherwise the lighting's good (though most photographers would probably keep the light slightly more behind the, and add reflectors (though I guess your ambient or fill lights are doing some of that.
Biggest problem in this type of image is the backgrounds - always! It's the same for photographers, it's important the background doesn't dominate the image, for this reason we tend to use mat back back grounds and shallow focus depth etc.
Composition wise I see why you've choosen to crop tight to show the glass refraction, but think the other glass is lost somewhat, and you have a lot of spare space on the RHS. Look as some photographic composition theory, Rule of thirds, lead in lines, magic ratio etc.
Once you've done all that, sorted the composition, materials, lighting etc, and ONLY THEN, try setting a fast aperture (small "f number", like say F2 on an 85mm lens that you might shoot this scene with )and focusing on the front glass, leaving the rear one slightly out of focus, and the background completely. I say do this last as typically the DOF takes several passes of the renderer and can take hours, so you want the rest of the image perfect first.
Getting really advanced, the crazy stuff happens why you reintroduce the random elements into the scene - the finger prints or lipstick on the glass, the dirt on the table etc. No real life scene is ever as perfect as the CGI world. The chipped and wonky bricks, slightly rounded edges to shelves, sink marks in plastic, dirt on the floor etc are all things that are barely noticable and take ages, but can make a good image great. Have fun!!!!
Lighting wise, the light's quite low in the sky, so would maybe expect a bit more warmth to the light. Otherwise the lighting's good (though most photographers would probably keep the light slightly more behind the, and add reflectors (though I guess your ambient or fill lights are doing some of that.
Biggest problem in this type of image is the backgrounds - always! It's the same for photographers, it's important the background doesn't dominate the image, for this reason we tend to use mat back back grounds and shallow focus depth etc.
Composition wise I see why you've choosen to crop tight to show the glass refraction, but think the other glass is lost somewhat, and you have a lot of spare space on the RHS. Look as some photographic composition theory, Rule of thirds, lead in lines, magic ratio etc.
Once you've done all that, sorted the composition, materials, lighting etc, and ONLY THEN, try setting a fast aperture (small "f number", like say F2 on an 85mm lens that you might shoot this scene with )and focusing on the front glass, leaving the rear one slightly out of focus, and the background completely. I say do this last as typically the DOF takes several passes of the renderer and can take hours, so you want the rest of the image perfect first.
Getting really advanced, the crazy stuff happens why you reintroduce the random elements into the scene - the finger prints or lipstick on the glass, the dirt on the table etc. No real life scene is ever as perfect as the CGI world. The chipped and wonky bricks, slightly rounded edges to shelves, sink marks in plastic, dirt on the floor etc are all things that are barely noticable and take ages, but can make a good image great. Have fun!!!!
VxDuncan said:
I think we just typed pretty much the same thing at the same time!
Haha 
I'd echo the dof points, it can slow the render considerably. Especially if its multi-pass / raytraced dof rather than some sort of depth-mask post effect
(not that a post dof-effect would look that nice with a scene containing lots of reflections like this one )Cheers.
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