yes the colors are a lot nicer now. the center of the flower (white) is too small compared to the real one ( i dunno why i didnt notice it before) ... keep going mate!
theres a bit too much black in your scene. have you thought of using SSS materials for the petals? and you can use a bit of hair and fur to make the small tentacly thingies around the center. edit: also the real flower's petals are a bit wider.
Thanks Blaisoid, I left the shadow color as default and I do see that the darkness is a bit intense. Aga, I've never used Hair and Fur in max so I don't know how it works or what the benefits are, though I'll look into it. Do you mean just the stamen (stand-alone cylindrical parts) or the all of mini-flowers that are…
I wasn't trying to replicate the photo exactly, and ya the petals are not shaped exactly the same and are definitely not in the same place. It was more an exercise to see if I could make the flowers look photo realistic and tinker with a depth of field shot. I can still tweak the stamen, though I'm essentially finished…
Here's an update to what I've now got. I have not added the stamen yet; I've spent some time reworking the diffuse and ended up using an Sub Surface Scattering material to get some more depth. I think the color vibrancy is much better now. My next step is to get the unbloomed (word?) stamen in there and rework the small…