[UPDATE II]

Here is the best of the updated images after post processing.  I am actually pretty happy with this.  I applied a Gaussian lens blur effect to alter depth of field, altered the bloom settings, applied a high pass filter and altered the suturation, contrast and brightness levels.  I want to sincerely thank everyone who chimed in with useful advice.  I learned a lot doing this.




[UPDATE] 

I recieved a lot of excellent advice and input from some awesome posters here.  I am deeply grateful.  I'll keep the original post below, but you can see what the results of the input produced and compare with where I started. Thanks guys!  Seriously Thanks!  Also, these new shots are entirely native CC rendered with the IRAY extension. No post processing yet.







[Original Post Below]

About a week ago, I posted a character I made for my daughter. Mei, the ninja had everything I wanted in place in terms of sculpting, skin, hair and costume and costume textures.

I didn't like the shadows and was at a loss as to how to improve the photorealism. After bouncing back and forth with some commentors (THANK YOU!), I decided to add a weak directional light to simulate reflections off the floor and moved some key lights around to better simulate reflections from the walls.  I also altered the roughness of the hair in the model to better show highlights and tweeked the IBL. Then I played with contrast and saturation a little.  I am always looking to improve.  Opinions and tips are always welcome.

Here are the results:







Hopefully you think this is an improvement.  Comments are always welcome.

This was the original:

Here is a Reallusion tutorial on lighting a scene in iClone.

- Michaelbarton

OK... Thank you. What in it do you think I need to do that I am not doing now?

This is just my personal preference, but I would put a light behind the model and create a light highlight on the silhouette, since there appears to be a pretty strong light source on your backdrop to the right. the highlight will definitely make the render blend a little better. Good job, nonetheless.


artstation.com/dreadmoormediaarts

First, thank you for both the compliment and the suggestion.

I did put a very strong light source behind her in the correct position and pointing in the correct direction and spread to come from the lamp (look at her shoulder and it is more visible in her hair for the second shot).  If anything, I think I made it too bright, trying to get a framing effect.

For reasons that I do not fully understand, it is not illuminating the hair in a framing effect like you are describing.  I am not certain what to do to her hair to get that efffect without making all of her hair look completely off.  Do you have any ideas? I am honestly at a loss.  

Also, the backdrop is a very high definition photo (appropriately cropped) of the interior of an actual Japanese castle, so the exercise is more about matching the background photo than illuminating a set.

One thing, unrelated to lighting kinda I like to do, is utilize Depth-Of-Field DOF.
In a shot like yours, in the real world, it would probably have a shallower DOF. In your situation you could soften/blur the background image map you are using as a background or adjust the camera's DOF in it's Modify tab...That would be the best way I think.
Typically a "longer/telephoto" lens will have very shallow DOF ( there are other factors in play for DOF but for our discussion let's keep it basic). A wide angle lens will have much more DOF making most everything in the scene be in sharp focus.



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That is an excellent suggestion.  Thank you. I had already done that a bit, if you look at the peacocks on the sliding door near the lamp, but I can see how increasing the effect might help. That's a good idea.  I suppose adding a Gaussian blur in post processing could also do the trick.

It would work in post but I strongly recommend playing the DOF in iClone. I will open up a world of possibilities ;)



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Also when lighting a "portrait-type" scene I like to start with a completely dark stage. Turn to 0 any Image-Based lighting setting and all lights off so it's totally back on the set. Then just bring in one Spotlight and establish that "Key"light. That will set the mood then start adding only as needed. I like to have as few lights as possible to get the "look" I'm after.



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Here is what the images look like with some post processing.  I added a Gaussian blur, altered the contrast and bloom and tweaked the color temp.  I think this is a large improvement.