Need some constructive criticism and advice

ebslater26

I've been trying to work on my framing, lighting, and post processing recently. I'm pretty happy with my lighting and framing, though input would be apprciated. I'm not sure what to do with post processing. Like, I get that I should be color grading, maybe applying filters like bloom, film grain, etc., but I find myself just fiddling with dials and making no headway. I just don't understand enough about the process I guess. Any pointers, resources, or just general feedback would be very much appreciated.

Attached are two of my most recent. Just straight renders from DAZ, no post work done; thus the post. :D

 

csaa

ebslater26 said:

I've been trying to work on my framing, lighting, and post processing recently. I'm pretty happy with my lighting and framing, though input would be apprciated. I'm not sure what to do with post processing. Like, I get that I should be color grading, maybe applying filters like bloom, film grain, etc., but I find myself just fiddling with dials and making no headway. I just don't understand enough about the process I guess. Any pointers, resources, or just general feedback would be very much appreciated.

Attached are two of my most recent. Just straight renders from DAZ, no post work done; thus the post. :D

 

ebslater26,

"...  but I find myself just fiddling with dials and making no headway. I just don't understand enough about the process I guess."

It's difficult to peer into your frame of mind when you wrote those words above. If I had to guess, you've dilligently pursued a path of technical competence, only to find a disconnect between your handiwork -- the outcome of all that layering, tone grading, bloom and gaussian filtering, etc. -- and your creative vision. I've experienced that too; I've heard others voice the same sense of ... for a lack of better words, anti-climax in the development of their craft.

When I find that I've can/have thrown the whole sink at a project, and the outcome leaves me empty, I turn around and head the opposite way. Where lie the lines separating the signal from the noise? What's the fluff, the extravagance and the clutter that I can take away so that the essense of what I'm trying to communicate emerges?

If you use cooking as an analogy, there is a difference between high calorie meals with rich flavor ... but ultimately little nutrition; versus paired-down, simple dishes that truly pack a lot of nourishment.

I come from a photography background. I'm reminded of one prominent portrait artists who felt that black and white was the best medium for personal portrature. The lack of distracting color, he said, allowed the viewer to hone in on the language of the scene, be it facial expression or body-wise, or through the interplay of light and shade.

Are you at the point where more is truly less, and less is truly more?

This may not be the response you're looking for. Nevertheless, I hope this helps.

Cheers!