Natural lighting advice?

[miacreed]

Hi all, I'm very new to Corona and so far am very impressed with the results I'm getting! Currently, as practice and to get the hang of the software, I'm trying to replicate scenes other people have rendered.
I'm having a little trouble illuminating the current interior scene I'm trying to render... No matter where I place the sun in the scene, the shadows are harsh and I can't get the sun to illuminate the entire scene. I'm attaching an image of my result and the reference I'm trying to accomplish. The reference image is much brighter and the shadow from the window pane is much more diffuse. My result is darker and the shadow has more of a straight edge.
Thoughts anyone? Thanks so much in advance, this forum has been really helpful to me already!
Best, Mia.

* Note: The reference image was rendered in Vray but I don't see why Corona wouldn't be able to achieve a similar or better result. ;)

[James Vella]

Larger the size of the light = softer shadows. In the Corona sun you can set the "Size" setting to 10 to see what I mean.

In this particular case if you look at the shadows under the coffee table you can see the direct light source producing those shadows. The light on the wall appears to be ambient lighting. So I believe you have your misinterpreting where the 'sun' or 'direct light' is in this scene. edit: what I mean is the angle of your shadows are close but I believe this is just a key light placed above that area instead of a sun.

[TomG]

Yep larger sun, softer shadows. Also make sure you have a Sky to go with the sun, to provide that environment light. Also looks like there is some interior lighting in the V-Ray scene not just sun and sky.

[miacreed]

That really did the trick.
Here's the updated version with a bigger sun:
Thank you so much for the advice!!!

[James Vella]

Looking much better. I can see you moved your sun a little bit more parallel, well done.

Little bit more light on the wall and doors behind the couch, darker in the back and a temperature shift/shadow lift and I think you nailed it. Like TomG said I think there could be a few other light sources in the original scene. Or even a light bounce card.