Rendering Critique

[George Godwin]

Adam, - I would be glad to help you with PS advice and if you want, I can make some adjustments to your final image to make it easier and send it back to you. I can do these adjustments very quickly due to about 20 years experience. Some effects may involve 5 to 30 steps that I can do in a couple of minutes. I wish that I was as adept at Chief but I am moving into the advanced level in a number of areas.

John's points are well-taken. The ideal is to get the best CA render possible and work from there as desired.

The improvements possible in an image program are subtle but that is what finishes a job to its highest potential. There is not a render in the world that cannot be improved in my experience and I have used high quality 3D rendering programs like 3dsMAX etc. But art is in the eye of the beholder and what satisfies one person may not satisfy another.

When it comes to matching specific colours precisely, such as a floor, a wall or a furniture colour, an image program can achieve that result. A render is harder to manage due to the render engine's reaction to light and shadow which is often overdone. The colour may be too bleached by the light or too saturated and detail is lost in the shadows while detail in highlight areas is washed out. Shadow and light areas often have sharp, unnatural outlines. The overall effect can be an unevenness of light and dark tones and inaccurate colours. If your goal is accuracy of colour, light, shadow, detail, and realism, adjustments are necessary. If you are satisfied with a simulation that is dramatic but not entirely accurate or photorealistic, then a raw render will do.