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Thanks to everyone for the feedback! Here are the adjustments I've made thus far...
1) Toned down the back spotlight on the brick wall behind her. It was a little washed out looking.
2) Added a little soft lighting to the right (her right) of her face to soften the shadows a bit.
3) The flowers on her head piece were way too bright and were distracting people from viewing her face. I still wanted these white, just not as bright. Being that I needed to add more light to the same side of her face, this was a little challenging. Ended up leaving it as is in the render but hand brushed a little gray tone into them in Gimp.
4) Added the rim light as two people suggested. Definitely helps make her pop from the background.
5) Fiddled with the DOF, which I was able to get to work OK but it kind of made it hard to tell that there were stairs behind her, which I wanted to preserve. So, instead I added a little gaussian blur to that area and adjusted the light a little.
All in all, the changes are pretty subtle but definitely seem to have made a BIG impact. Thanks to all that made suggestions. Definitely open to more!
Before and After below...
BEFORE
AFTER
Just a basic portrait, hope you like it.
According to the rules that were added to the top of the first page, this definitely fits with the definition of a portrait. I fail to see why you wouldn't have a chance to win as I think you've done a great job with it. If I were to suggest anything, perhaps trying a little DOF to blur the background a little. Play with it and see if you like how it looks. I think your lighting and pose are great. I love the whole feel to the image.
I always love your stuff, Toyen. I think the expression is good. Your lighting seems a bit off for you and I'm not quite sure what's missing. It's one of those things I can sort of feel when I look at an image, but I'll be darned if I can explain it. Other than that slight feeling of the lighting being off, I like it.
I'm not sure why it looks like her finger is behind her hair when the hand is so far away from her face, but it does. You might try adjusting the pose a little and have the girl turned a little bit like she's starting to walk away. For the annoyed look you are going for, I'm not sure she should be looking into the camera like that. It might be more effective if the head was turned away from the camera slightly. We still want to see her face, though. Keep in mind that anything I say are just suggestions. I'm still learning, too.
As for render settings, I'm with Evilded777 on this one. I rarely go up past 2 for render quality unless there are lots of fireflies in rather nasty areas. I will set the max samples in the outer limits depending on the scene. I've had some where I absolutely needed to go up above 30,000 iterations. Make sure to set the max time to zero. The default stops after 2 hours whether the image is done or not. On rare occassions, I've had the quality set as high as 4, but I honestly have a hard time telling the difference in quality between 2 and 4 unless I have some major issue in my images. Sometimes, you might also need to up the convergence percentage to 99% so it doesn't stop too early.
So, I love the changes made to the pose. Nice improvements. :) The lighting definitely needs work, but you already know that. Now, don't kill me, but I think if you could combine the lighting in the fist image in the bottom half of the render with the lighting of the top half of the second image and then add in a rim or hair light, you might be on to something! :) I know you love that lighting setup you have, but maybe you could step out of your box and experiment a little more? I really love your image and I want to see you do the very best I know you can do with it. Suddenly glad there's an ocean between us! ;)
I like the image. I think the background looks nice and I like the pose. I'm not crazy about such a close crop on the image, but that's a personal preference for me.
That's a really stunning image and I think you did a great job with it.
Been tweaking the lighting all day. Need to stop before I get sick this image. Open to suggestions though (if only to obsess over something other than the lighting).
OK, I've cast another character into the uncanny abyss, my work here is done.
What I've learned...
1. I had never really used DS for traditional rendering before. I've always just rendered with the headlight, or exported to Blender.
2. I got Haley's 3Delight hair material figured out.
3. I figured out how to add a static background to a camera for composing a render that will be composited onto another image.
4. I've played with some new GIMP filters.
5. I've further convinced myself that I will never have the finese to put a pleasant smile on a 3d character. (My mouse is too fat!)
That said, I'm going to post this to the entries thread. If I read the rules correctly I get two entries, and I've still got most of the month left. I'm thinking about a low light, street scene, with angry people. Angry is much easier to pose.
Thank you for the encouraging words Knittingmommy. I did turn her to face the camera. In my mind running through the amusement park isn't a portrait, it's an action adventure. :)
It's amazing how big a difference can be made with subtle changes. The rim light really works here. I'm not sure what else to suggest at this point, so I'll just sit back and enjoy your image for a while.
@veeters2002 - You have a good point about the eyes. It seems most of the issues I have with this image do come back to the eyes. I'm going to have to take a closer look and do some experiments. Maybe I can get her smile into her eyes - just a tad... Now to find the hours in the day... Thank you.
@knittingmommy - You're right about the closeup. That crop is definitely too close. I think I will try to bring the camera in just a bit. Thank you.
While looking at the image, my eye is drawn to the lower left corner. There appears to be a body part emanating from her chest that I don't believe is the part we traditionally think of. Seems to be more like an arm or something that is maybe crossed over her chest? Perhaps a subtle pose or camera change can clear up the mystery. It's also possible I need to fetch my glasses.
At least it's something other than lights to look at!
Boy Wonder
I won't be entering, just here for the conversation, the back and forth, the sharing of ideas. Thanks for the assists in making an image that I am proud of and that pushed me.
ok same pose different collors and adjustment to lighting, which btw is the aurous iray set from the mega egyptian bundle. stopped it about 901 iterations, only about 20% at a 1.5 render setting with spaced out updates.
You did some great work on this.
Big difference!
Thanks all for your help/feedback so far! This Iray version of a fire mage has the following updates.
Different background
Beautiful Skin for G2M by SickleYield
Jepe's ElementZ special effects
Head morphs for cornea bulge
Added arm pose
Adjusted spotlights
Its definitely looking more interesting! I think you might want to change the framing. Move him to the right (my right) and show all of the the flames (or not, entirely up to you on that point) and crop it so there isn't so much blank space to the right. Unless you are adding something on that side in which case, totally ignore all of that lol.
I like the depth of field on this.
Thanks Ice Dragon! An hour into the render and I thought the same thing, what am I going to do with all that other space? No idea at this point. LOL. I might give him a staff or other weapon, or add more fire.
I like your suggestion of moving him over and showing all the flames though. I think I'll try that first!
Hi everyone! I finally got a chance to put a WIP together. My computer's been in the shop getting fixed but I have been keeping up with the thread on my phone. There are some really good portraits this month! The judges have their work cut out for them. I wanted to try to work some DOF field into my render but was having a hard time coming up with a hand gesture that looked natural. Hands are so difficult! Any suggestions?
Also, for a second portrait I am thinking of doing a render inspired by one of the old master oil painters like Gustav Klimt or Rembrandt. The Klimt would require making a lot of patterns in Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop and applying them to clothes and background. Rembrandt would probably mean raiding the store for just the right props and wardrobe.
Here's version g. I tried to make use of DOF to blur the background some.
Zoomed the camera in a little bit - not nearly as close as the last crop I did. Also continued playing with the eyes and subtle face morphs. Still second guessing myself on the eyes. Got to learn to stop doing that.
The uncropped version here is my favorite. I like it even better than the latest one that was cropped less. The uncropped version tells the full story. Even the minimal crop cut off some of the sword. I even find here eyes here to be more pleasing to me.
I think it looks pretty good. I like the way the flames and lights are reflecting off of his clothing and highlighting some areas. I can't see the irises and pupils of his eyes. They seem to be rolled back into the top of his head. Or are they some kind of robotic/alien eyes?
I think that is a fantastic start! The hair and skin and eyes are very well rendered, in my opinion. The hand gesture looks OK to me, as though she is reaching for something. The eyes seem very well focused on the camera.
Some suggestions: This composition seems close to the rule of thirds placement, but just a little off. I think that adjusting it slightly to position one of her eyes on one of the thirds intersections might make it feel a bit more balanced and strengthen the already nice composition. The white button (?) at the bottom of the picture is a little distracting. Maybe you could make it darker to blend in, or compose the picture to avoid it. I think her expression is a little bland. I get a hint of something, but I'm not sure what emotion she is portraying.
I look forward to your next old masters render, too. That sounds like it will also be interesting.
Thank you! I did the latest with a second camera - so I'll try again with the first camera and see.
I do see the big improvements in his eyes. The skin and hair look good, too.
Some ideas:
I like the lighting and DOF. I think it portrays "get that camera out of my face!". The skin, hair and clothing look good. I would eliminate that partial person on the right side of the image and reframe it so that her right arm is not cut off at the edge. Some of her hair seems to be coming through her fingers. I'm not sure how that occurred. Is it a result of the DOF?
@evilded777, amazing sharpness and contrast on this one! Is it a self portrait?
It sounds like you learned a lot! That's the point of this whole new user contest. You have shown off her personality. You read the rules correctly; you can enter two images in the Entries thread. I look forward to your next one, too.