Photography Resources for 3D Artists
Joe.Cotter
Posts: 3,362
There are a lot of photography resources out there which are a great help to 3D artists as like us they are painting with light in a 3D space, just using different tools. The trick is to find ones that apply to what we are trying to do in our own space.
To that end, there are a couple sites which I think some might find helpful, one is Creative Live, which sells training but also has regular free training, the same training they sell (timing is everything here.) They also have a newsletter which includes useful tips, like this one on posing which covers concepts such as negative space, foreshortening, etc...
Another is PHlearn which covers mostly photoshop effects (i.e. compositing) but does so well. They also have some lighting, composition and other related topics which are useful for 3D artists.
Adorama has videos on hardware, which may seem to have no relationship to 3D but as we move more into PBR environments we see more crossover for physical camera aspects and videos at these sites can often have the most concise and to-the-point tutorials for these as well as lighting, compositing, etc...
If you have a favorite site that 3D artists would find useful, post them along with what makes them particularly interesting.
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Comments
Very cool resources Gedd! Some insperational images as well as information.
Here's a video: From snapshots to Photography from B&H that has a lot of good information, both on camera lenses and composition rules.
Why camera lenses? (Obvious for some, not so much for others....) We have been able to change things like the focal length and even f/stop for a while now in render engine cameras but the results have been mixed as to their fidelity to what a r/l life camera would do. As we move forward, the render engines seem to be continuing the trend of incorporating more and truer adaptation to r/l lens effects in their cameras, so more of the traditional knowledge of lenses will apply.
This video, while having some very good information demonstrates something else I believe, and that is, even when someone has a lot of good information to offer, it's OK to have a different take on things. That combined with 'rules are meant to be broken,' and 'rules are sometimes up for different interpretations.' All three of these points are captured in two images he demonstrates.
The first is this image of a child on the beach. I happen to like both images equally for different reasons. The second 'more correct image' has the points the presenter mentions but the first I think gets a little maligned because it breaks the rules. If we look though, I would posit that the first puts the focus squarely on the child, no pulling back. And in this case, the child is strong enough to carry that focus. Children (and some other elements we might focus on) tend to have a strong fascination or pull for us. Putting something with that strong of a pull smack in center has a particular impact. I'm not alone in this btw, there are some well known photographers who have used this at times in their images over the last couple of years. (Unfortunately, I don't have examples handy, for which I appologize.)
In the second image, we have an image that a young person composed for herself and asked the photographer to shoot. The photographer shot that, then felt the need to fix it so that it would match the rules better. Personally, I feel the first picture is a much stronger picture. In this, I wouldn't even attempt to analyze why, it just is in my opinion.
So, two examples of the concept 'know the rules, then don't be bound by them, break them at times, but with a reason.'
Addendum: I realized one of the big reasons the first image of the second example is a stronger image. It tells a story. The second image has no story, it just is.
When thinking about the story aspect, the first example the story is a girl on the beach whereas the second image is the girl. It's much more focused on the nuances of the young girl, her pose, what she might be thinking and how she's perceiving the world. That gets muted a little when we expand the image. I still like the second image of that example, but they are different stories I think.
Any type of artistic imagery follows the overarching principle "when we shine a light on something, we put others in shadow." (Paraphrased, the actual quote was about education, but it applies here also.)
There is a saying, "photography is painting with light." While the saying refers to photography, it applies to any graphic image artform to some extent. I that vein, here is a resource on light: Qualities of Light and Composition.
In photography or any image based artform we see some basic forms of the art. The portrait, the scenery, the story, etc... One form I've heard people say they don't understand is the simple form or pattern as we see in this image of sand dunes.
This type of image works very well when we want something simple that helps set a mood and tie together a larger composition outside of itself. This is best seen in using an image of this type on a wall for interior decorating purposes where the line, form, and color help bring together a room and all of it's disparate parts to create an atmosphere.
It's a concept that plays out in different forms and can help with our 3d art where we can embed something in our images that plays off of this to provide subtle, almost subconscious aspects to tie an image together.
Expanding on this concept, we can look at the various items in our scene to see how the various forms within forms, such as the lines or patterns on a decorative vase either compliment or distract from the overall forms and patterns in an image. Hopefully, everything in the image works towards the goal of either telling the story and/or creating the emotion the image is ultimately meant to convey.
We see this concept played out in major studio art from Pixar to Hayao Miyazaki where every element, from the carpet on the floor to the pictures on the walls or tabletops are carefully thought out not just in content, but in line and form and how they work in the larger image to create the desired emotions.
Another perspective on composition, this one: Better Photographic Composition, Beyond the Rule of Thirds starts with a quick/interesting look at composition in art through history and goes on from there.
A quick note, I often speed up the playback as the presentations will put me to sleep when played back at their default speed. It has the added advantage of allowing me to get through the material in a timeframe that I can allow for.
Feel free to comment/discuss anything related to this topic. It's meant as an open forum.
I thought about creating a separate thread about art fundamentals in reference to 3d art but decided that anyone interested in it would probably be reading this thread anyways, so to avoid splitting into too many threads I'll just wrap some of that into this.
There are a lot of art threads which talk about things directly related to 3d art even if the topic is about traditional media, such as painting realistic skin, aging a character, composition of course, and just how to see as an artist. Looking around on YouTube and through other resources can yeild great results.
There is one artist who I have got some good information from and think others here might benefit from and that is Istebrak. She covers a lot of ground and presents it well but for an interesting starter video this one on Critique Hour! Don't Mix Age/Gender/Weight in Character Design is a good place to start.
Something else I find helps when going through material besides upping the playback speed some is to not be afraid to jump ahead when a particular tutorial or presentation is covering something that either we have down pat or has been repeated enough already for us. That is one of the advantages of video over live presentation. As much as I like some of the information Istebrak presents, I find jumping ahead at times invaluable to making best use of my time.
Phlearn is a great resource and very easy to follow (the only one I have experience with and can recommend at this particular moment lol). And I find this stuff sometimes hard to follow so if that helps anyone this is a good place to start.