Photorealistic lamppost scene

Rhav

The objective of this project is to seriously improve my photorealistic skills. As of now i've only touched the modeling and texturing part, meaning that all that comes with post-production is yet to be seen (but if you have any suggestion it would be greatly appreciated.)

Needless to say the scene should ideally reach a level of photorealism good enough for the eye to be fooled into thinking it's a photo.

I'm also still working on the light set up, so for now i'll just use some basic HDRi.

I also thought of some night scenes with the lamp post turned on, but i'm not really satisfied with the result. Maybe because the set up was too simple? i just made the "glass" part slightly emissive, and put a simple light inside of it. (the scene is completely dark just for testing the light.

Here are also the ref i used for modeling and texturing.


Here are some of my thoughts about how to improve this:
1. Slightly deform the upper plastic part of the "head", just like in the REFs. A slight deformation on the edges, to not make it look too perfect.

2. Somehow improve the "glass" part, to make it look right. As of now i don't really know how to proceed though.

3. Eliminate the cobwebs?

4. Create a lighting set up that sets the right mood and emphisize reflections

5. Add different weathers

6. Work on post-production so that the camera looks like a real camera.


Now, do you have some opinions on how to improve the photorealistic look?

Aga22

looks spot on. the only thing i would improve is the top of the concrete column, you should rough it up a bit, maybe add some displacement.

stray

Rhav said:

3. Eliminate the cobwebs?

Maybe not eliminate completely, but look up more references.
Usually these things cover narrower parts first. For example: between the column and the pipe/lamp. I guess, after that they would move on more open areas, but just putting a web in the open seems to take away from realism a bit.
Aside from that, and the part mentioned by the user above, it looks really nice.

3d_legionary

Try to add some details to the post
Dents from bubbles during production

Side seam

Connections look a bit flimsy. 

I would add dead insects. Usually there are a lot of them.


Move dirt to the lowest part. Raindrops hit sides more often and with higher energy. Also drops lose their velocity as they go down the spherical surface. So there will be less dirt on the sides and more at the bottom.

For the night scene I'd make it brighter. Now it looks like the bulb is too weak for a street light. Also it looks like you model doesn't have a reflector inside.

Usually cobwebs are everywhere. But it's really hard to see them.

For the night scene I'd add flying insects with a bit of motion blur. 

Noren

Nothing much to add from my side. If this was part of a photo, I probably wouldn't think twice about it. 

Is the big crack from a photo source? It meanders oddly regularly and maybe should start at the top. And the metal clasp holding the glass looks a bit new.