From the outset I wanted to create a scene which complimented the simplicity of the building and at the same time create a natural surrounding that would contrast the geometric forms of the museum.

Seeing as the museum itself was very dark I wanted to avoid a scene that was too dull and moody. By creating something bright would make the museum stand out and I wanted sunlight to be the main focus. I felt an Autumn feel would best compliment the dark tones of the museum. My aim was to capture the morning sunlight bursting through the tress creating long shadows and sunshafts.

The process was relatively straight forward. I began with the model; this gives me time to think about possible scenarios and familiarise myself with the building. From there I played around with camera angles and rough light setups to get an idea of possible compositions. Once I had decided on the final camera angle it was then just a case of creating the necessary assets. Some of these I had existing in my library and other I had to create. All landscape items were scattered using iToo Forest Pro. This tool, combined with interactive rendering in Corona renderer, have become invaluable for experimenting with a scene. Final lighting setup was a HDRi (Peter Guthrie) combined with a Corona sun to help emphasise the direct sun.

Post process was very simple. I wanted the image to be 90% complete from the raw render. I appreciate this is not always the most efficient method but in this instance it was possible to do. I added a few colour corrections and tone adjustments in Photoshop, but nothing else.

I would have liked to create more images for this final submission but due to the nature of the competition I felt time would be better spent on the main image. I will certainly be rendering more images from this scene, so I hope you look out for them.

Thanks for the opportunity.