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GLBHow to improve my lighting
268
Hey All 
For the first time in a while, I've been working on a couple of renders. Unfortunately, I'm getting a little stuck with my lighting. Consider this image of a girl in a nightclub. I'm using the classic 3 point lighting setup: face, rim and fill (in green/yellow/pink to stay in the colour palette) but i think the image is flat.
How do I 'lift' this image with better lighting?
For the first time in a while, I've been working on a couple of renders. Unfortunately, I'm getting a little stuck with my lighting. Consider this image of a girl in a nightclub. I'm using the classic 3 point lighting setup: face, rim and fill (in green/yellow/pink to stay in the colour palette) but i think the image is flat.
How do I 'lift' this image with better lighting?
! REPORT
Just my opinion, since you're use depth of field and it's a night club setting, I would add a bloom filter to render settings. You already have would looks like neon bar lights in the back of the image. I would start with those and maybe at a point light or two in different colors. Attune the bloom filter scale to match the lighting in the back. You may need to adjust it a bit, but that will shake it up a bit. Also it looks like the resolution on the dress is too low rez to work its normals and the lighting. Make sure it's set to hi-rez and if it already is, maybe kick the subdivision up 1.
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! REPORT
First of all: I already like the picture very much! so my tips are not for optimization, but only as ... tips
Important: if your computer and graphics card can handle this, it is best to always work in Nvidia Iray preview mode.
I always start with the tone mapping options. For example, you can reduce gamma and experiment with crush blacks / burn highlights. Vignetting can sometimes also be helpful.
You can move the spotlights and observe the effects precisely. Sometimes very beautiful effects are created when the spotlights are closer to the model or even behind the model. You can also experiment with the spotlight settings (light, spread, etc.).
If you are working with Dome and Scene (Render Settings), it could be that the dome brings too much light into the scene. In this case, reduce the brightness (intensity). If the light can be controlled for the environment, it is certainly worth experimenting with it.
Did I mention that experimenting is really the best thing to do? I think so
The nice thing about DAZ is: you can use everything as it is ... or go your own way and change everything
Important: if your computer and graphics card can handle this, it is best to always work in Nvidia Iray preview mode.
I always start with the tone mapping options. For example, you can reduce gamma and experiment with crush blacks / burn highlights. Vignetting can sometimes also be helpful.
You can move the spotlights and observe the effects precisely. Sometimes very beautiful effects are created when the spotlights are closer to the model or even behind the model. You can also experiment with the spotlight settings (light, spread, etc.).
If you are working with Dome and Scene (Render Settings), it could be that the dome brings too much light into the scene. In this case, reduce the brightness (intensity). If the light can be controlled for the environment, it is certainly worth experimenting with it.
Did I mention that experimenting is really the best thing to do? I think so
The nice thing about DAZ is: you can use everything as it is ... or go your own way and change everything
REPLY
! REPORT
I agree with Pushee-Ri, your image looks good and has a real life feel to it.. as if it were actually snapped in a dark club.
I can describe what I do.. which is amateurish and not bound by reality.. I add directional ghost lights to my scenes. They are typically close up and low wattage (0.5 near the face and 60-120 for all others)... I want my faces to light up (usually I just want the eyes and/or teeth to not be dark) and don't care if there is a visible source for the light. Hope that helps.
I can describe what I do.. which is amateurish and not bound by reality.. I add directional ghost lights to my scenes. They are typically close up and low wattage (0.5 near the face and 60-120 for all others)... I want my faces to light up (usually I just want the eyes and/or teeth to not be dark) and don't care if there is a visible source for the light. Hope that helps.
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! REPORT
Thank you all, for your thoughts and ideas, I experimented with them and it seems that on second thoughts I'm also going to agree with Pushee-Ri: the first render was pretty decent to begin with - LOL
Adding some bloom works a treat but it 'fogs up' and blurs too much of the image for my liking, and when you dial it back down... well, there's little gained. The crushed blacks make things a good deal darker, which is nice, but then I need to faff around with lighting-up the girl with a point light which then makes her skirt turn a bit 'flourescent'... and when I balance bloom and crushing, the difference from the original image isn't much of an improvement. I guess I was second guessing myself a little on the original image for lack of recent render practice.
Anyways, thank you everyone for your time and suggestions - much appreciated
Adding some bloom works a treat but it 'fogs up' and blurs too much of the image for my liking, and when you dial it back down... well, there's little gained. The crushed blacks make things a good deal darker, which is nice, but then I need to faff around with lighting-up the girl with a point light which then makes her skirt turn a bit 'flourescent'... and when I balance bloom and crushing, the difference from the original image isn't much of an improvement. I guess I was second guessing myself a little on the original image for lack of recent render practice.
Anyways, thank you everyone for your time and suggestions - much appreciated
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! REPORT
Pushee-Ri
Karma: 34,401
Mon, Jun 02You're welcome
just to say it again: Crush Blacks is just one step among many (!). With some of my promos I spend more time fiddling with the lighting than actually setting up the scene ...
Pinspotter (below) refers to Key Light. This brings me to the question, are you rendering with Iray? If so, the standard settings for the amount of light (1500) are useless - you have to use at least 20 times that for Iray.
Masterstroke (below) describes how to turn a good picture like yours into a super awesome picture. This involves, for example, repositioning the light sources, the light intensity of the individual light sources, etc.
By the way: do you actually use point lights or rather spotlights? In my opinion, spotlights are better and more accurate to use.
Last but not least, a general tip: never trust the exposure and lighting that comes with environments - neither outdoor nor indoor.
Good luck
just to say it again: Crush Blacks is just one step among many (!). With some of my promos I spend more time fiddling with the lighting than actually setting up the scene ...
Pinspotter (below) refers to Key Light. This brings me to the question, are you rendering with Iray? If so, the standard settings for the amount of light (1500) are useless - you have to use at least 20 times that for Iray.
Masterstroke (below) describes how to turn a good picture like yours into a super awesome picture. This involves, for example, repositioning the light sources, the light intensity of the individual light sources, etc.
By the way: do you actually use point lights or rather spotlights? In my opinion, spotlights are better and more accurate to use.
Last but not least, a general tip: never trust the exposure and lighting that comes with environments - neither outdoor nor indoor.
Good luck
You have no key lighting. You need a key light on the subject. You gotta look at it like photography, because technically you're "taking a picture". And when it comes to photography, "realistic" lighting is anything but realistic.
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! REPORT
Have you cropped a bigger image?
That is the first question comming to my mind.
Do you want to have it realistic?
Looks quite good to me.
Do you want to have it exciting?
Well, ...
What do you think should be exciting about your image?
High light it, literary.
If you think your model is sexy and you like her sexy body shape, light settings can exactly support that. Let some light play on her body.
Maybe you think, she is enjoying a dance. Have some lights on her face. Glimpsing into some disco light spots.
There are actually YT tutorials on setting lights at movie sets.
Very interesting stuff, you should watch and shamelessy trying to copy.
That is the first question comming to my mind.
Do you want to have it realistic?
Looks quite good to me.
Do you want to have it exciting?
Well, ...
What do you think should be exciting about your image?
High light it, literary.
If you think your model is sexy and you like her sexy body shape, light settings can exactly support that. Let some light play on her body.
Maybe you think, she is enjoying a dance. Have some lights on her face. Glimpsing into some disco light spots.
There are actually YT tutorials on setting lights at movie sets.
Very interesting stuff, you should watch and shamelessy trying to copy.
REPLY
! REPORT
More light is needed in the foreground - the strong lighting behind her is stealing focus from the character and drawing the eye away.
I'd throw a couple of spots in there to put more light on the character (lots of spot type lighting in a nightclub) and generate some visual interest with shadows.
Bring the background lighting down a bit so it's not overtaking the foreground.
Another option would be to try and go for a flash photography look - with a single strong light in front doing most of the work. I'd slightly offset it up and to one side of the camera like an SLR flash. You then add a could of smaller lights to selectively fill bits you want or add colour accents...
I'd throw a couple of spots in there to put more light on the character (lots of spot type lighting in a nightclub) and generate some visual interest with shadows.
Bring the background lighting down a bit so it's not overtaking the foreground.
Another option would be to try and go for a flash photography look - with a single strong light in front doing most of the work. I'd slightly offset it up and to one side of the camera like an SLR flash. You then add a could of smaller lights to selectively fill bits you want or add colour accents...
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! REPORT
Most important thing I'd do and I really wish I would have learned it sooner is by going into your render setting, clicking on Tonemapping and getting familiar with what the dials do. Most importantly, at least for me are, exposure value, film iso, burn highlights, and crush blacks.
I've personally never had any luck with Daz's spot and point lights so I started using these: https://www.daz3d.com/iray-ghost-light-kit-one
I usually just stick with the scenes indoor lighting, load and pose my character, then place the wall sized ghost light in front of my character and adjust its distance and maybe size ( in simplistic terms) till I get the results I want. It also works really well for characters in outdoor scenes that are in the shadows.
As an example:
FYI, you can also use a primitive plane by turning on the emmissive element in the surface tab (change the color from black to white) and change it to one sided.
Its basically same as using the ghost lights but the primitive will be visible in your scene and you'll have to be more carefull with camera placement.
I've personally never had any luck with Daz's spot and point lights so I started using these: https://www.daz3d.com/iray-ghost-light-kit-one
I usually just stick with the scenes indoor lighting, load and pose my character, then place the wall sized ghost light in front of my character and adjust its distance and maybe size ( in simplistic terms) till I get the results I want. It also works really well for characters in outdoor scenes that are in the shadows.
As an example:
FYI, you can also use a primitive plane by turning on the emmissive element in the surface tab (change the color from black to white) and change it to one sided.
Its basically same as using the ghost lights but the primitive will be visible in your scene and you'll have to be more carefull with camera placement.
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! REPORT
dirtrider00
Karma: 15,441
Sat, Jun 07Crap, just realized my characters flippin the bird. In no way shape or form is this directed at anything other than the theme of the scene I was making at the time.
kwerkx
Karma: 6,147
Sun, Jun 08Up vote for KA's ghost lights. Any light I add to a scene uses those.. in texture mode they have arrows that point at what you are lighting up.. not sure if that's common; but I like it.
I agree with dirtrider00 about using a ghost light.
If you don't want to go through the hassle of setting up your own ghost light, you can always download the free pre-made one by Excessive here at Renderhub:https://www.renderhub.com/excessive/spectrelight-ds
Putting one in the right place with small adjustments could help the character pop without it looking too out of place.
If you don't want to go through the hassle of setting up your own ghost light, you can always download the free pre-made one by Excessive here at Renderhub:https://www.renderhub.com/excessive/spectrelight-ds
Putting one in the right place with small adjustments could help the character pop without it looking too out of place.
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! REPORT
She's beautiful!
She looks great the way she is, but if you wanted it a little lighter 3d point lighting could help.
She looks great the way she is, but if you wanted it a little lighter 3d point lighting could help.
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