OTOY Forums

I'm struggling with the lighting here (I have attached two images depicting the setup from the front and side), and the whole lot is contained inside a rounded cube. The setup is quite simple, so perhaps that's the problem. All help gratefully received.

Tried a different lighting setup and backdrop. Seems a little better now.

hey danilius,

second one is an improvement for sure.
if you don't mind to upload the scene file i'd like to give it a shot, relighting it - to compare results.
seems easier then describing you my approach.

That's great! I have attached a zip file with the obj, mtl and ocs files.

I look forward to your results.

Once I am happy with the result (and have the time) I will make the model freely available in whatever formats I can export to from Blender, all suggestions welcome.

Thanks for you help!

here's my first take:
(i fiddled with the materials a bit - hope you don't mind)

That is truly gorgeous. The wood is spot-on, far better then the black stuff i was going with. Is it available in the DB?

You did know I was going to complain about the chrome. I like it shiny. Phenomenal lighting. Do share, please.

looks better..so share the lighting..

3rdeye

Sorry to but in.i know it's probably not what your looking for but here's a vintage photo version.

Seemed to go with the subject matter.

thanx danilius. appreciate the kind words.
and no, unfortunately the wood material isn't in the live db as it's a texture from arroway. (nbr. 49 from wood vol. 2. well worth the money, if you don't already own them i'd say).

as for my lighting setup - it's extremely minimalistic.
one medium sized top light, and a very weak fill light (a very dark grey in the texture of the texture environment), just to lift those blacks ever so slightly.

two main thoughts went into my set-up. reflections and a contrast.
one thing i observed in the past is that reflections are a key element of lighting. its not just about how much light you throw at your scene, it's where the reflection of that light itself can be seen on the surface of your objects. as the wooden legs of your lamp are angled, a "top-ish" light is the only place a reflection would show.
with contrast i'm referring to the concept of making sure that a dark foreground always meets a bright background and vice versa. its fancy term would be chiaroscuro. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiaroscuro. (a concept i failed to adapt with the lamps feet - and where they meet the floor ).

one last thing to mention is that it is my believe that a well picked and placed light is serving several purposes. an ill placed light does so too unfortunately.
a nice trick i learned from a director of photography is to change your scenery instead of your lighting. instead of introducing a second light for that gradient on the back-wall, i expanded the grooves radius and moved it closer to the camera, so the top-light would hit it appropriately.

ok - hope that wasn't too smartassy - and helped some.

very well built model by the way.

Colin, I have taken on board what you have said, and will try to figure out a way to get that kind of gorgeous moody lighting you came up with. My lighting knowledge and experience is quite limited, so this is in fact an excellent exercise as far as I am concerned.

Jaberwocky, you are not butting in. I am as pleased as Punch that you and Colin have downloaded my model (whose Blender file I have now attached) and given it a spin. As you will see, I have added a chain to prevent the legs from separating too far, but either the material in use or the thickness of the links makes it look too insubstantial.

The render I have attached has been very gently tweaked in Gimp, mainly for sharpening and saturation.

As always, all comments gratefully received.