'1233 Sun Clouds'
2 new skies added to www.pg-skies.net today, '1213 Cloudy Blue Sky' and '1233 Sun Clouds'. Taken 20 minutes apart, you have the choice of the sun obscured by clouds or the with the sun visible. 1233 includes a version with a corrected sun intensity.
New Sun: gamma 1.0
Original HDR: gamma 0.75
Originial HDR: gamma 1.0
Those of you who bought '1714 Clear Sky' should have received an automated email from www.pg-skies.net notifying you of an update to 1714. As I have mentioned in previous posts, I am going through a process of updating old skies that feature a strong sun to include a new alternative version.
When shooting HDR skies, it is very difficult to capture the full dynamic range of the sun as it is so incredibly bright. To combat this, in the past (following on from Bertrand Benoit's lead) I adopted a workflow that involves lowering the gamma of the HDR to make the bright parts of the sky brighter. This method has its drawbacks though, mostly in that it makes the colours in the sky a lot harsher, and sometimes makes the sky appear too bright in relation to the sun.
A few months ago I saw a post on the corona forum by dubcat who shared a nice method for adding a rendered sun (with the correct intensity) in to one of my HDR skies. To me it feels like a slightly more scientific method than simply painting in a brighter sun with Photoshop (also can work well), and I liked the results I was getting.
The new version included with 1714 is called 1714 Clear Sky_NewSun.hdr and to use you just need to remember to return the gamma value to 1.0 otherwise you'll get some very ugly results.
We at The Boundary used 1714 NewSun for our 87 Park project for Renzo Piano and were very happy with the results.
My favourite 3 images from Triple-D's latest project, Farmhouse by Maas Architects
Triple-D made great use of the new '1935 Late Sun' sky on www.pg-skies.net and went with the 'New Sun' version of the HDR which has the intensity of the sun artificially corrected so that you don't need to play around with gamma settings.
I'm preparing a new blog post going into this in more detail.
You will need to be quick, as it is already almost sold out, but I am doing another State of Art Academy Masterclass in July.
Info here:
http://www.stateofartacademy.com/calendario/eng-peter-guthrie-lighting-masterclass2/
Its discount PG SKIES time of year again.
Head over to www.pg-skies.net and use the following codes:
BLACK20 - Baseline 20% off
BLACK30 - 30% off orders over 100 euros
BLACK40 - 40% off orders over 250 euros
BLACK50 - 50% off orders over 500 euros
2 new 14k skies added to www.pg-skies.net, 0709 Dawn and 1935 Late Sun.
1935 (above) has a lovely warm low sun. Note how different it looks when simply rotating the sky through 90, 180, 270 degrees.
Just wanted to share 4 renderings using the updated version of '1735 Clear Sky', which features a more accurate sun intensity. More details about this change to follow.
If you have previously bought this sky from www.pg-skies.net you should already have received an email with new download instructions.
Another 360 this time using the work I did for Tom Phifer & Partners as a base.
Double click for full screen, or if on a smartphone/tablet, click here
The HDRi sky I am using here is an updated version of 1735 Clear Sky which I have edited to adjust the strength of the sun. This means you no longer need to employ the lowered gamma workflow that I have been using up till now.
I'll update 1735 in the store soon, anyone who bought it from www.pg-skies.net should get an update notification email and can re-download for free.
Finally, a new sky on www.pg-skies.net, '1958 Night', which is a DARK sky. To be used when you want a really dark night sky.
This is the full gallery of a quite amazing amount of work accomplished in one week by 12 students. You can find out more or get in touch with the artists from the links provided, or feel free to leave comments below.
If you are interested in attending one of my lighting masterclasses, there is a strong possibility i'll do another one next year with SoA. Keep an eye on the State of Art Academy homepage for announcements.
Alessandro Consonni - http://www.behance.net/ac3dartist
Alessandro concentrated on interiors, and went for a very stylish minimal look. Rendered in Corona and with Corona environment fog which worked out really well. Click the thumbs for lightbox mode.
Alessandro Massi Mauri - http://www.lissoniassociati.com/
Alessandro Massi Mauri started with some basic changes to the architecture (black timber) and made a desert landscape which worked surprisingly well. An alternative, Rick Joy inspired version of the house completes a great set of renders.
Darwin Ceballos - https://www.behance.net/Darwin_Ceballos
Darwin went for a Nordic winter theme and found some very pleasing lighting set-ups in which the architecture looks right at home.
George Nijland - http://georgenijland.nl/
A very strong set of images from George, who chose to concentrate on landscaping and exterior views. I especially like the subtle and carefully managed colours of the green grasses and the blues in the sky. Not an easy thing to do well.
Giuliano Sabadin - http://www.giulianosabadin.blogspot.com/
Lots of images with potential, but the wintery scene is my favourite, plus he seemed to knock it together in no time at all!
Jeroen Henning - http://www.ciiid.nl/
Jeroen tried a bit of everything and as a result seemed to get a lot out of the week. Corona AND Vray. Solid interiors and ambitious, expansive exteriors. I really hope to see the valley shot rendered higher res and with lots of detail added.
Matthias Arndt - http://www.lichtecht.de/
Some nice moves in changing the architecture set the tone for Matthias' images. Clean compositions and balanced lighting. I especially liked the buildings new relationship to the landscape.
Oguz Kalafat - https://www.behance.net/oguzkalafat
Oguz used the classic Julius Shulman LA image as inspiration and amended the architecture to suit his purpose. A strong set of well balanced moonlit images.
Paolo Faleschini - http://www.paolofaleschini.com/
Paulo took my suggestion of making B&W images, and did it really really well. Strong compositions, great use of light. As Gianpiero said to me later, they sum up the product of a lighting masterclass perfectly.
Robert Dukes - http://www.robertdukes.com/
Robert took the existing landscape and developed it even further, and modified the architecture quite a bit too. A great selection of compositions, and lots of good experimentation with different HDR skies as well.
Sandra Ferminan - http://www.ferminnan.com/
Sandra matched the atmosphere perfectly of the inspiration images she had chosen. Strong compositions and really beautiful colours, especially in the tree shot.
Walter Pegolo - http://www.oecusdesign.it/
Another mix of Corona & Vray with a strong emphasis on interiors. Walter also tried his hand at an exterior which resulted in a nice soft dusk image.
