Match your favorite lighting example

This was an older model I had already completed hope you all still like it.

Is your username Don Cliché? because if that's how it's written, it's really funny 😂

I like the result better than the goal. The cliff has more details, the silhouette has a more natural pose, it has some old photograph filter noise that looks cool. I have the same question, was that achieved using volumetric, Zdepth pass or just paining with Photoshop?

Thank you both very much :) and yes I used volumetrics for the fog but I think I added a little at the bottom in krita, I cant remember.

Just got done watching the video, and this looks like a very interesting and helpful exercise. Just might have to give it a go soon :D  

@theluthier , with the CTRL-T thing, you can use it pretty much anywhere that would need vector coordinates... Anything with a color slot, it will even add in an image node. I think if it takes a color input, it will add an image node, and anything else, it will work backward to the Texture Coordinates.

I keep missing the live ones, so I'm always watching the replays... and forgetting I'm watching a replay and want to make a comment -- only I can't because it's a replay :D

Awesome fourth one Kent, I've loved that render in particular because of its simplicity. There is no super complex modeling or mega texturing and shading, just the pure raw power of lighting, compositing and composition. 

Oh man there must be so many hours upon hours of sculpting there... but when I think about it, most people I know have a greater total of accumulated hours of watching series on Netflix or television. 

Lighting is great, those god rays look cool and the poses and camera angles make everything look even cooler. 

You know, I have deep respect for interior lighting, I think it is really hard and much more technical and Cycles still has ways to go compared to other render engines out there, but I hate the fact that a well lit interior really can't be showcased, it doesn't shine on its own as much as when you light a single model.   

Blown out highlights, not the Filmic one.

It is no surprise to me it hasn't gained your love, for most situations is not that necessary. I've only found it useful for interiors, because you have to really crank up the lights to get that interior lit. Without Filmic you used to get blown out areas pretty quickly. 

I'll give this a try.

whether to turn it on and leave it or use where needed, isn't that the art part rather than the science?

Well I guess. All the small choices you make during the whole process contributes to the end result. But also if you use the wrong tool for a set task, the end result is going to pay the consequences. 

Yes. Art = freedom. Science = chains.
mmm.... Isn't  this-thing-precieved-as-Art being enabled by (the) Science?
(of particles, photons, colors, lighting, reflection, refraction, shading).

Here's the lighting challenge i've set out for myself. A nice collection of little shiny things inside my windowsill that is facing the South. Throughout the day, Sunlight illuminates this little scene from many different angles, which keeps it a true joy to look at - at any given time-of-daylight.