Lighten a character in the sun holding an sun umbrella

agamersday

So I have this chinese character that is standing around town holding an umbrella to protect the skin from the sun.

I'm mostly using hdris for lightning in this case I use this sky HDRI https://www.daz3d.com/ibl-skies-clear-skies

But the umbrella makes the the face kinda black no matter how I rotate the HDRI. Is there a way so the umbrella actually dosen't block the hdri or lets more light in so it dosen't look too black? Or another way to deal with this?

TomDowd

In real-world photography, a reflector (or an addiitonal light) would be positioned to add fill light to the face. You can do the same. So-called "ghost lights" are also often used for this, but you can really use any kind of light.  (https://www.daz3d.com/iray-ghost-light-kit)

davegv

Hi - You can also use a very simple method - create a small sphere ( as a mesh light )  - give a emissive material and this will act as your fill in light you can place as you like ( under your umbrella perhaps - or just a short distance away from where you desire additional light.  There is also a light set that has these props which i use alot - it is called AlterGlow I - Iray Lighting System by fabiana . It has these very handy small emitter props that parent themselves to your characters head area and provide just the right amount of fill in light. They can be found here if your so inclined 

https://www.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/alterglow-i---iray-lighting-system/118209