Baltic Sea Summer Apartments

[Edvinas]

Hi,

This week I had a chance to work on a small project, so decided to share some images and short write up. 

What is interesting about this piece.. I was totally suprised how incredibly well can coronalight map work!

The problem was that there is actually no good looking pine models in the market (I even bought last evermotion collection which didn't give me desired result, will post another project soon). So you might be wondering what was the workflow for pines.. :)

It actually quite exotic..I had a super great two day trip to house location, super great weather, photoshoot and night in the pinewoods with tent and all those crazy mosquitoes :) Yep, I love this work!
So basicly 24mp photos were used for BG, mapped on a rectangle with coronalight material. And thats it, simply powerful (unless you zoom in 100% on 8k image :)

All other are 3D. Surely, I am not 100% satisfied with final result of some aspects, but have no time limits to play more. And the client is happy.

Thanks for your time. If anyone has any questions, don't hesitate to ask!


EDIT: orignal images has been updated. To see comparison look for GIF.

[TomG]

Interesting approach, and it worked really well I would say. Mosquito bites add a whole new hazard to this kind of work :)

[racoonart]

The reflections of the photo background in the windows in the day version really look horrible, sorry :(
I would suggest to shoot a series of images in decreasing exposure, starting at a point where all details (blacks) are visible. You can then combine them to an high dynamic range image and use it for reflections - the results will be much better.

[Edvinas]

@TomG Indeed. But it still better that back pains when sitting all day in office :)

@DeadClown Good point. I actually missed that. There is also a chance it's problem of glass material or overexposed lighmap(used higher multiplier for reflection image). Will check that out next time.

Edit. Ok, DeadClown, I have to admit.. big fail. If you mean those black reflection on right house, so thats just geometry before lightmaterial. Those trees not only didn't work, but also failed on final image even not beeing used :)

[F13Design]

Nice. I like the dusk one, because the background fits the scene better. The days shot looks nice but I feel like the background is too crisp and clean and matches the foreground too much. I would diffuse the BG image a little to give it a more atmospheric look. I do however like the background. Trees are awesome and the image is very detailed.

[racoonart]

Edit. Ok, DeadClown, I have to admit.. big fail. If you mean those black reflection on right house, so thats just geometry before lightmaterial. Those trees not only didn't work, but also failed on final image even not beeing used :)

Oh, yes, that's also not nice :D
But I'm indeed talking about the reflecting photo primarily. We once were forced to use a bad photo of las vegas by night for reflections - total nightmare due to it's complete lack of dynamic range.

[Edit] hmm, actually... is it possible that your glas material still has some of diffuse color?

[Juraj]

I have some project where I am using the reflection technique and it works only if what Deadclown said is done. Can't show it though : /

I don't use true HDR images, I had no time to shoot those, but I convert my raw photography (from D800) to 32bit and tweak the gamma and some local contrast until I have enough separation between bright areas (Sky and lights) and those that need to stay dim.
This is what causes the reflection in glass to work correctly, those dim areas will not reflect much and will allow to be seen through. Specular reflection requires very little exposure difference as opposed to direct light (which is why every HDRi gives nice reflection, but only those with highest dynamic range can cast strong shadows, it's the difference between 4 stops, and 16 stops).

The way you have done it makes it look flat, like screen mapped through post-production.

[Nekrobul]

The reflections of the photo background in the windows in the day version really look horrible, sorry :(
I would suggest to shoot a series of images in decreasing exposure, starting at a point where all details (blacks) are visible. You can then combine them to an high dynamic range image and use it for reflections - the results will be much better.

I think the glass material is messed up. I can clearly see something gray in the refraction, probably the refraction collor is not 100% white or there is some scattering in it.

[Edvinas]

So I couldn't resist trying methods by Juraj and Deadclown. And it gave some better results.

@Nekrobul you are totally right, there was some errors with glass mat, since I wasn't happy with simple glass.

Glass isn't perfect by now, I will give some time this weekend to test it more. Now it's time to work.

[Juraj]

That is much better.

Is that a foil coated glass ? Seems super reflective :- ).

[Edvinas]

That is much better.

Is that a foil coated glass ? Seems super reflective :- ).

It seems to me also. Thats why I said I will give some more time :) Bit strange, since it's 1.51714 IOR with 1.0 at multiplier, never had it to be so strong. Depends on lighting probably.

[nicolasZ]

Realy nice !
May I ask you, where did you find the tall pines ?

[Edvinas]

Realy nice !
May I ask you, where did you find the tall pines ?

Thank you, Nicolas.

You mean texture or real pines? I made a photo series myself. The real location is in Klaipeda, Lithuania. There are many of them :)

[FrostKiwi]

I think the glass material is messed up. I can clearly see something gray in the refraction, probably the refraction collor is not 100% white or there is some scattering in it.

In terms of realism, windows absorb brightness and usually tint the light a minimal amount of blueish green. Disregarding absorption option, wouldn't it be just as correct to have a windows with grey diffuse color and 98% refraction, considering that it would absorb some light energy just like in real life?

[nicolasZ]

ho my bad, I thought it was 3d vegetation...