I would cut back on your main figure keylighting. Its feels to bright/sharp for the environment. I would also add just a touch of reflection to the face, hair, helm (try 5%) and increased specularity to the ground objects to simulate the wet. The rain looks rather good to me. The DOF is not too intrusive and gives the effect I think you want. The posing is very good and the costuming hase been well adjusted so as not to make any anomalies that I can see. One question though, I see two swords but only the one figure. The visual story is missing something. If this one of a series illustrating one particular action in a timeline, that's fine but as a solitary image, it feels incomplete. This is going to be one hell of an image. I look forward to seeing where it ends up. Hope this is of some help. Richard

That is a great Pic. Keep up the good work. There's nothing wrong with the rain, looks just fine to me.

You might be able to justify the sharp key figure lighting if you apply some lightening to the sky and extend the lighting effect to the sword, helmet, rocks and foliage. Add specularity to the foreground foliage and rocks to make them appear wet and add some ripple to the water for the driving rain. The rain itself looks very good. The overall image, its mood and its composition is spectacular. I too would love to see the finished piece. Excellent!

the fact is that rocks, terrain, face, hair, helm, armor have all specularity set to 150 or more but they don't reflect light...dunno why... thanks for the inut anyway i'll try to fix the bugs...

ehmmm 150 = 50

That rain looks good! Is she a vampire? Just wondering cause of the blood tears.

I think maybe the lighting is too strong on her face and the right side of her body, you could turn it down a little. What settings are you using for the lighting? Is that tears of blood?, to be honest I don't like it 'cos it looks wrong somehow, maybe there's too much of it. You could perhaps put another suit of armour lying down in the mud behind her to make it look like a fallen comrade, that would also explain the other sword. Would love to see where you go with it 'cos it is a really wonderful scene and wonderful atmosphere. Good luck with whatever you decide to do. Catlin

I think the blood tears might need a very tiny amount shiny white specularity. The keylight on the figure is a little sharp and needs to be a little softer (mainly on the face and knee). I think that a brightly lighted figure is still very nice, but then the sky needs to be lighted brighter too. Maybe it needs some bright area's where the clouds are directly lit and a stong but soft falloff toward the shadowed areas. The liquid in front (I don't know if it's water or blood) needs some raindrop-ripples too. The DOF is great. Only the little plant, wich seems to be exactly in the area of focus, could be a little sharper. The image looks really good and the rain is very nice. It'll be interesting to see what you do with it next.

I agree that the lighting on her face is a bit too strong. Otherwise, I think it's a fantastic image. The rain looks just right to me.

A couple of things: The composition is great, although it lacks a little something in the background on the left side. I agree with the others on the lighting. But the ground is way too light. Is there a fire in the location of the camera? The problem with rain: it doesn't interact with either the ground or the figure. So, try what Incarnadine and Rayraz suggested. Or/and try creating a specularity map that would simulate the rivulets of rain. Finally, the blood. Blood doesn't flow that way. The trickle on the left side of her face looks like she's standing. Change it to parallel the one on the right side. I'm talking about her sides, not the sides of the picture. :-) Finally 2: didn't they use to keep the misericordias somewhere around the boot or the belt, not in the forearm guard?

A great composition, and i love the POV! :) One suggestion. I would try having the main lighting coming from the top left, and let the shadows give the piece even more atmosphere. If the character turns a little dark, try adding a couple of radials. One fainted, light yellow, from the left, behind the cam. And one fainted,light blue one, on the right side. About where her elbow are, but more to the right. Just a suggestion. I have no doubt the end result will be stunning! :)

jeanne d'arc! great textures, great POV i think the dramatic lightning adds to it, but maybe a dead body on the foreground (so that you only see the arm or something) to make it more dramatic

I don't know about what other people said, I guess I agree with it all or something? (laughs) This image is excellent, as is. Spend your energy on the next one, if you ask me it's wonderful! As for the specularity you were talking about earlier. Even with it set at "50", the specular halo color is what drives most of the speculairty. You probably know this, but in case you didn't... CTRL-Alt click on the specular halo color in whichever material, and adjust the white level with numbers, if need be. Sometimes that's the only way to make certain materials look shiny enough... Just an idea!

I agree with Erlik on some points..., The rain looks good to me, one other thing though, if a battle has been fought here, more mud and gore would be on her armor and clothing, those kinds of stains just don't wash off easily, even in the rain, maybe huge notches in the sword. The lighting is kinda white on your figure, to tie her into the image, try lighting her with the same, or close to, the greenish cast in the background...a good rule of thumb is to use colors found elsewhere in the image, in your main charactor, this will tie them together into a cohesive whole..just a thought.

thank you all for the comments, guys! i'm reworking it a bit, mostly i'm changing lights and contrast. just 2 words on it. She is so disunited from the image because i wanted her to be evidenced from the background, the second sword (a great frebie here on 'rosity) is just a visual effect, it will focus watcher attention to her head, the blood stream is rippled but POV elimate it.... so far you give me a lot of positive input, i hope to satisfy u all with my last verstion. just last thought.... i prefer to control color and composition balance instead of realism and story congruency.... THANK YOU ALL!!!!!! vasquez

...(this is for rochr)... I was sure u liked the POV :-))))))

i love the harsh lighting... maybe we need a hint of something flashing off-camera, left side. a few highlighting on the ground in front of her and maybe a bit of a white wash on the left side of the frame. i mean if your going with that harsh, dramatic effect on her, it screams for something casting it. pull the surroundings in. she looks like she just finished a fight(s) and has reached a point of no return... like she fought to get there... the prize perhaps. i love the blood.. maybe add a small string? like a droplet is clinging on in her motion.... i dont know how your doing the rain but can it be tilted in some way? make it look more like its comming 'down' mnore into the camera rather than across it... considering the pov? cant wait to see your next version, man. well done! :)

oh! one more detail... if thats a puddle in the foreground, you should make 3 or 4 nice surface-deformations of water droplets hitting it. talk about freezing time there... lol

Whoa, that's great, vasquez! First thing that came into my mind was to "dilute" (argh, don't know the English word, Italian is "diluire" __ scrivo in inglese perchvedano anche gli altri) a bit the blood on the cheeks. Givin it a look more of "blood AND water". POV is killer! S.

You're onto a winner here vasquez no matter which way you tweak it. 8) Catlin

this is an awesome image! i know im a little late, but i think maybe u could soften or lower the light on her face. thats all i got! killer POV and i love the idea, cant wait to see this up in the gallery!

I know im super late here too.. But the rain is certainly fantastic. My only thoughts would be to cut back on some key lighting, slight touch up on the bloody nose she seems to have and add (if possible) some pitter-patter of water drops hitting the water puddle infront of her... Other then that, you've got some gold on your hands. Well done.