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Description
An elven princess relaxes with her companions at one of her favourite spots; a pond in some abandoned ruins near the palace.

OK, I admit it; my imagination for titles failed me on this one.
This one went straight from rendering to posting, since I seem to have burned through my 3-month buffer of completed renders.

My “Adventures with Lighting” continue. I haven’t yet found a lighting setup that is perfect. All of the options I have tried so far seem to have some issues.
I am not a fan of the three-light setup that seems to be the recommended ‘best practice’. I often get secondary shadows from the fill light, which I hate, as well as weirdly truncated shadows.
HDRIs are great for skies, and can be rotated, but are limited in the vertical range if you want a higher or lower light source. Rotating them also rotates the sky in the background, which usually doesn’t matter, but sometimes it does. I also don’t like the sharp shadows produced by HDRIs, and distant lights have the same problem.
For this scene, I tried something new. I hung a simple point light up in the sky, made it a sphere a few meters across, and cranked the intensity up to about a millionty gazillion. I really like the result. Total control over the location of the light source, as well as more diffuse shadow edges. Then I used dim camera headlamps to 'soften' the shadows.

I suspect I will try this option in a lot of future outdoor scenes.

Daz3D Iray. Post to clean up speckling.

Products:
    1) Brooke HD for V7 by Fred Winkler Art
    2) Summer for V7 by Raziel & Silver
    3) rose-309524 (Rose wreath) (Pixabay CC0 License)
    4) Nylyssa for G3/8F by Mousso
    5) New Gens for V8 by 3feetwolf
    6) Pubic Hair for New Gens for V8 by 3feetwolf
    7) New Gens V7 by 3feetwolf
    8) Intimate Hair by Babblebub
    9) Ktarya Hair for G3/8F by SWAM
    10) Anjou Hair by AprilYSH
    11) Geneva Hair by AprilYSH
    12) French Twist Hair for G3F by goldtassel
    13) Divinity Outfit for G3F by Nikisatez, and Shox-Design
    14) dForce Genevieve Gown for G8F by PandyGirl
    15) Aqua Subterrenea by Merlin Studios
    16) Free Grass System by Erock3D
    17) Traveler’s Naturals – Flowers Vol 1 – Cosmos by RuntimeDNA & Traveler
    18) Nature Shaders by JGreenlees (Water)
    19) Seamless Sand texture by AGF81 @ DeviantArt
    20) Book and Texture Kit by seasanaigh @ ShareCG
    21) Sea Life Pack 2
    22) Sorbet Swimwear by Lilflame (Swimsuits in SFW render)

Previous (NSFW): At the Pond 01-01

Next (NSFW): At the Pond 01-07

Description
An elven princess relaxes with her companions at one of her favourite spots; a pond in some abandoned ruins near the palace.

OK, I admit it; my imagination for titles failed me on this one.
This one went straight from rendering to posting, since I seem to have burned through my 3-month buffer of completed renders.

My “Adventures with Lighting” continue. I haven’t yet found a lighting setup that is perfect. All of the options I have tried so far seem to have some issues.
I am not a fan of the three-light setup that seems to be the recommended ‘best practice’. I often get secondary shadows from the fill light, which I hate, as well as weirdly truncated shadows.
HDRIs are great for skies, and can be rotated, but are limited in the vertical range if you want a higher or lower light source. Rotating them also rotates the sky in the background, which usually doesn’t matter, but sometimes it does. I also don’t like the sharp shadows produced by HDRIs, and distant lights have the same problem.
For this scene, I tried something new. I hung a simple point light up in the sky, made it a sphere a few meters across, and cranked the intensity up to about a millionty gazillion. I really like the result. Total control over the location of the light source, as well as more diffuse shadow edges. Then I used dim camera headlamps to 'soften' the shadows.

I suspect I will try this option in a lot of future outdoor scenes.

Daz3D Iray. Post to clean up speckling.

Products:
    1) Brooke HD for V7 by Fred Winkler Art
    2) Summer for V7 by Raziel & Silver
    3) rose-309524 (Rose wreath) (Pixabay CC0 License)
    4) Nylyssa for G3/8F by Mousso
    5) New Gens for V8 by 3feetwolf
    6) Pubic Hair for New Gens for V8 by 3feetwolf
    7) New Gens V7 by 3feetwolf
    8) Intimate Hair by Babblebub
    9) Ktarya Hair for G3/8F by SWAM
    10) Anjou Hair by AprilYSH
    11) Geneva Hair by AprilYSH
    12) French Twist Hair for G3F by goldtassel
    13) Divinity Outfit for G3F by Nikisatez, and Shox-Design
    14) dForce Genevieve Gown for G8F by PandyGirl
    15) Aqua Subterrenea by Merlin Studios
    16) Free Grass System by Erock3D
    17) Traveler’s Naturals – Flowers Vol 1 – Cosmos by RuntimeDNA & Traveler
    18) Nature Shaders by JGreenlees (Water)
    19) Seamless Sand texture by AGF81 @ DeviantArt
    20) Book and Texture Kit by seasanaigh @ ShareCG
    21) Sea Life Pack 2
    22) Sorbet Swimwear by Lilflame (Swimsuits in SFW render)

Previous (NSFW): At the Pond 01-01

Next (NSFW): At the Pond 01-07