Outdoor lighting help

Philippi_Child

I need some opinions on lighting this scene and scenes like this. My problem is the lighting on the figure I'm happy with the overall lighting but the figure comes out so dark on the first render. I could rotate the dome which I did on the other second image but I really want suggestions on lighting things in shaded areas.

The two renders I've posted didn't render long maybe 10 minutes so they are not real long render for a finished image. More like to see how the lighting would come out so one lighting object in a shaded area would I treat them as if I were lighting an indoor room?

I tried that but the figure looked like she was sitting in front of a fluorescent light which kinda took away that outdoor light look or the light would cast a shadow that looked very much out of place.

Maybe adding a light source? Tweak the render settings? Render the image then bring it into Photoshop and lighten it there?  Suggestions would be very appreciated.

L'Adair

Both images could be improved using Ghost Lights.

Kindred Arts first Ghost Light Kit is my go-to product for situations like this. It's really convenient, but KA also showed us how to create our own here, so you don't have to buy anything to get the extra light you need.

AlmightyQUEST

Another option to adding light would be to check tone mapping. Under render settings, tone mapping, setting the first value to something a little lower like 12 or 11.5. keep in mind though, adjusting to get the best lighting for the figure will also affect the background. So if you want to keep the background lighting looking the same, you would need to add light, either the way L'Adair said, or something light a spotlight behind the camera.