What a difference simple post-production can make

Those of you who know me, know that besides writing I do web design, video production and digital artwork. Links to all aspects of my work are online at my main site: www.edwinhrydberg.com. This whole side of my life only started about four years ago so, despite some successes, I'm still learning the tricks of the trades.

One of those tricks I've really come to appreciate in the last year is the difference that simple post-production can make to artwork.

I work primarily in DAZ3D studio for my 3D rendering, with Bryce for anything landscape scenery or abstract work. Both of these programs produce very nice looking output. For example, a simple image I did recently using the Aiko 4 model and Elay outfit with standard 3-lighting setup renders thusly:

  This is quite acceptable for most work that I would do. The only thing I'm still working on is highlighting the gun much better.

However, the skin tones are a little flat. This is not so noticable without experience, or comparison to the image below.

Fortunately, a lot of this kind of lighting issue can be fixed with some simple post-processing, I first rendered this image as is, then in an overexposed version and finally, I saved the background and character alone. You can never have too many layers to work with.

Using these layers, with some layer duplication and manipulation of the layer display modes in Gimp, but absolutely no touchup otherwise, leads to the much more vibrant image below.

The difference in skin tone and hair colouring really is striking, especially for such a small amount of work post-processing.

This image will be posted on my sites, when I'm happy with the gun, although it won't be for sale as the fractal background is not mine.

That's all for this time. Back soon. In the mean time...

Insight and Longevity.