Becoming a better artist, part 2.

It’s not about the lighting…

So let’s get back to topic. Why doesn’t your images look as realistic as you want it to? 

I want to start with the lighting. Let’s first realize that lighting is a simple concept. Light is made up of light rays bouncing around; everytime it hits a surface, it changes in color and intensity. All this is math, pure simple math, and there’s no subjective way of looking at it. It is what it is, following the laws of physics. 

This also means that all descent renderers calculate light more or less the exact same way, because they are programmed to follow this math. If you’re for example having issues with colorbleeding it’s not because the renderer is doing something wrong, it’s likely because you have too saturated or bright diffuse colors (nothing in real life is 100% white or 100% saturated). 

One mistake that many do is to blame the lighting everytime their images doesn’t look photo real. If it doesn’t look good, you try another lighting technique, or another HDRI. You move the light, change time of day, add artificial lights or bouncers, and when you still don’t get it to work you start tweaking the settings. Or you start to retouch the heck out of your image in a desperate way to save it, instead of actually fixing the real issue.

I did this too, for years, but eventually it dawned on me:

If you take a photo in really bad lighting, the image looks photo realisitic. It may look like shit, but still realistic. It doesn’t matter what lighting circumstances you take your photo in, it still look realistic, since it’s obviously a real photograph. And the same principle actually applies to 3D as well, even if you have bad, ugly lighting, that alone is not the reason to why your image doesn’t look realistic.

… it’s about the models and shaders

Let me share a little story.

For a couple of years I was working at a local electronics store, and my main responsibility was to sell digital cameras, DSLR’s. Time after time, I had customers asking me what camera body to buy, often they wanted the best. For example that could be a 5D MkII, a really competent and, at the time, expensive camera. Now because they were about to spend $2500 on a camera body, they wanted to buy a simple, cheap lens since they couldn’t really afford both that body and a $1500 lens.

Now if you know anything about cameras, you realize how stupid that is, because nothing is ever stronger than the weakest link. 
It’s a pretty obvious fact, that every single light ray that reach the camera sensor must first travel through the lens, basically meaning that it doesn’t matter how good camera body you have, with a shit lens your images will always look like shit.

Now, in this story you can easily replace the words “camera” with “lighting”, and “lens” with “models and shaders”. It doesn’t matter how good lighting you have, with shit models and shaders your image will always look like shit. But with great models and shaders, it will most likely look realistic even in bad lighting conditions. Just like in real life.

As for interiors, your image should look realistic even when only having a pure white environment background color lighting the scene, without any lights or HDRI added at all (given that you have windows in the room letting the environment light in, of course). It may not look interesting or eye-catching, but it sure should look realistic.

If it doesn't, lighting likely isn't your problem.

Don’t forget the artistery.

So what makes a good artist, really?

So let’s say that you already know how to make kick-ass shaders, and that your lighting already is good. Your images look realistic but still they are lacking something? They are lacking emotion?

Well, being a good artist doesn’t only mean that you know how to technically make realistic images. Artistery is so much more. It’s colours, it’s harmony, it’s composition, it’s balance.

It’s feeling.

You must know what colours look good together, how to create harmony in your image by matching design styles, and use of camera angles. You must use foregrounds and backgrounds to your advantage, the rule of thirds, focus points and depth of field. You must work with shadows, not only with light. Shadows is often what creates the mood and makes your image evoke emotions. 

Your images shouldn’t just show an object, they should tell a story, create a need or at least be inviting. There should be a reason for every camera angle. That reason could be as simple as it “feels good to look at”, but that’s reason enough as an image that feels good also evokes emotions. 

And that’s what you want to achieve, getting the viewer to feel something. If he or she doesn't, then what good does the image do?

I posted a render online a while ago and someone asked me: “Why do your images always evoke sadness?”. He was referring to that my images not rarely are dark and desaturated. Even though I got a bit surprised since that was not really the purpose of the image, his reaction made me happy. Because 99% of all 3D visualisations out there doesn’t evoke any feelings at all. They are just an image, showing an object or a space, but nothing more. They don’t make me feel, they don’t make me want or think. If you can evoke any feeling at all, regardless of if it’s happiness or sadness, you have succeeded. 

The Why?

If you shoot a chair in the room, why are you shooting that chair? 

Maybe the purpose is to sell the chair. Or you’re doing interior renders to sell an apartment, and that chair should look so inviting that the viewer want’s to sit in it, right there, in that apartment. The image’s purpose is to invoke a feeling, a desire that will make the viewer open his wallet.

If the image doesn’t succeed with that, it’s actually quite pointless. It’s easy to show how a chair look like, but it’s harder to actually make people want it.
To enhance that feeling, you may for example want to have the sun shining on the chair while keeping the background in shadow, and you may want to add a plaid hanging over the chair to make it look inviting and cozy. Shoot it with a zoom lens to get some interesting perspective and let the depth of field add drama and focus to the image. 

There are tons of creative ways to achieve this, but you must start looking at your images and asking yourself, do I feel something?

Stay put for part 3! While waiting, please do kick ass images!