Interiors - subtle DOF

[martinS]

hey guys,
this is a personal project I've been working on in my spare time for quite a while now. these tree images are going to be part of a set of a residential building, that actually exists. The geometry is pretty much straight forward, as are the materials. I experimented with the DOF and finally did it in post... what do you think? -martin

[LKEdesign]

Looking good!
- However, I would alter / randomize the UVW on the veneers on your cupboards - I don't think it is possible in reality to get a continued venner all over your kitchen. It looks to me like you have modeled your kitchen and then applied a common UVW modifier to the whole lot and then given it one material.
 

[maru]

Is this dof made in post? It looks wrong. Especially in the first pic.

[martinS]

@LKEdesign - thanks! there are actually four different maps (3000x2000px) all over the geometry. however, very similar ones. You don't really notice the end of one map and the beginning of another. True though. Thanks for the hint :-)
@maru - dof is made in post (zdepth mask 220cm-500cm). the first pic has some dof right at the end of the counter and by the window. what's wrong with it in partucular? too blurry?

[maru]

It just looks fake. What caught my attention is those sharp borders around objects that are in focus - it's typical for faked dof and doesn't look good. Also, if you have a focal point somewhere in the middle of the scene, then not only should the background objects be blurred, but also the area that is close to the camera. Why not make DOF in Corona? If you want it to be subtle, then it shouldn't render much slower at default settings.

[martinS]

thanks maru. i didn't render the dof just because I wasn't sure whether I wanted it in the finals or not. I wanted as much geometry in focus as possible and therefore keep the dof subtle. the area close to the camera would have been in focus even though I had rendered it in corona, due to the fairly high focal lenght (35mm) and the distance  to the objects. the hint with the sharp edges is quite nice, thanks for that. for a better comparison I'll give the rendered dof a shot... thanks for your efforts

[martinS]

...some more images from this project.