Fake shadows?

[cjwidd]

I'm trying to recreate the lighting / shadows from a reference image in Corona - for practice - but having a hard time (see attached 'b_prodotti'). I cannot confirm whether the source image is a render, photograph, or combination thereof.

The issue pertains to shadow softness, shadow density / opacity, and GI (?). It is possible to manipulate shadow softness by adjusting the distance and size of a light source, but I am not arriving at the expected results (see attached 'domo_v0'). In addition, enclosing the target geometry in a small "room" can help soften shadows, but often at the expense of the shadow density.

Any advice would be appreciated.

[sebastian___]

That's simple. It's like you said - increase the size of the light source to make the shadow softer. If it doesn't work, just make the light huge. It also matters how high and how far away from the table are the plates.

[maru]

You would have to know what the lighting looked like when taking the reference photo (render?).
It looks a bit like the lighting comes from a big window.

[cjwidd]

That's simple. It's like you said - increase the size of the light source to make the shadow softer. If it doesn't work, just make the light huge. It also matters how high and how far away from the table are the plates.

That's right, adjusting the light source size and distance is simple enough, but I would challenge you to try and recreate the shadow from the reference image with just a cylinder and plane. Without an HDRI, I suspect you will find that it is more troublesome than it seems. That being said, it is possible there is some simple operation or lighting consideration I am overlooking, but I have not succeeded in emulating the shadow exactly (see attached).

EDIT: attached image contains Photoshop post