I'm not sure what to do for the background. Trees? Mountains/hills? City? Nothing? Any other suggestions welcomed! Thanks! Peggy

I'd tend to suggest a Tor, since it looks like you are going for a celtic/stonehenge sort of theme (even though I don't think there is a tor there), but a tor might look to simple, unless maybe you put something like the Cerne Abas Giant on it. (see http://www.sacredsites.com/1st30/cerne.html for information) Something like that, or a Nazca type outline would be neat and would add some additional mystery to the image.

Maybe it's not Stonhenge. In which case a Tor would be OK. And maybe there was a tor there at one point. I think simple rolling hills would be good. I think stone circles are built on a mound, so you could look down a slight hill and then up to green rolling hills and trees in the distance. Maybe a ancient village. Great piece of modeling in anycase. Nice texture on the stones.

You need a terrain assortment to beak up the infinite plane. I do not know what the topography of Stonehenge is, but you could go online and download the dem file of the actual countryside and render with that.

from what I remember of Stonehenge, the background's actually not that far off..;)

Attached Link: Stonehenge

That's pretty true Pakled. Here's a picture of my better half posing (on a cold day) by the stones. Note the rather dull background.

Yeah, Salisbury is pretty much a low plane ... however, as noted, if it's not really Stonehenge, but just an area like Stonehenge, and if the idea is a celtic fantasy image, then I think a tor or a set of low hills would be great and I still think a pagan image etched into the tor would be so cool. There are a number of those throughout the areas of England and Wales, and I think they would add to the image.

To the west of Stonehenge is a stand of trees as I recall the last time I passed by there. Also, there is a main road on either side of the site which makes viewing from a car pretty easy. Strangely, the stones don't look as big close up as they are seen on tv or in photos......go figure! The land slopes fairly steeply downwards towards the east, and to the North is a carpark set in a 'gully', with a tunnel through which you visit the site itself. Hope this helps. The Bryster

LOL...BTW This is a really nice pic...For once the girl is not flashing her stuff, but actually looks pretty interesting....

you might add a futistic town in the back to enhance the agelessness of stonehenge

the sky and horizon combined with the reflective ball is very dramatic as is. I think the composition could be improved in a few ways: -come up a little closer with a wider angle lens to capture more of the sky and the shape of the ruins -move the camera and/or change the size of the rocks so that they're not coming out of her head. you might try to get some catch light in her eyes as well (sorry I'm talking like a photographer). just some ideas, I love the sky and textures

Fog. Definitely fog. Adds to mysteriousness.... I dunno, that might x the effect you were looking for. But I just think that'd be cool..

Thanks for all the suggestions! I'll post another WIP as soon as real life pauses for a minute so I can finish. Peggy

I really like the image Peggy, I agree some fog would be cool (especially if you can make it really tendrils of fog rising up) I would avoid getting too much into the stonehenge thing as technically there's no stone formation at the henge that would match the image (the outer cycle of Triliths would never have completely connected like that - i.e you would have 2 uprights with a cross piece, then a gap, then anther pair of uprights, the stones would never have made a continuous high level circle). Sorry was watching a proggie on new research on history channel over the weekend. What would be good is to add some single 'alignment' stones outside the circle (for example the heel stone at Stonehenge). BTW did anyone see the program a couple of weeks that was arguing that the Cerne Abbas giant was actually created during the English Civil War, basically to stick 2 fingers up at Oliver Cromwell? had some pretty strong arguments to support it. Various dating techniques all appeared to match, along with the lack of any mention of the giant in the Cernes Abbas Abbey records.

HA!! I love it (about the Cerne Abbas Giant). Actually, I never thought she was really going for Stonehenge itself, but that if we're talking your basic celtic stone circle, then massive mountains in the background wouldn't make much sense. (Which is why I thought a tor would be better.) I hope no one ever decides the Nazca lines are not prehistoric, that would just blow my little mind.

Here's a second, third, and fourth try. Still need to work on the fog. You can barely see it in the reflection! I used a cloud plane with a fog texture. I have had good results with this texture in other pictures, so it may be that the lighting or camera angle is just not right. Anyway, I wanted taller, wispy strands of fog... Will try using a few spheres with the same texture and see what happens. I worked on the background, added some hills, more rocks and then decided to crop it all out in postwork. What do you think - better or worse? Thanks! Peggy Thanks! Peggy

Both are excellent! But I prefer #1.............

I liked the standing stones behind her in the first one (although maybe not growing out of her head), but I really like the background hills in the second.

Here is one more version. I think I am going to loose the fog for the final. It just is not working in this light. Thanks for everyones help! Peggy

Oh, yeah, that fog has gotta go. It makes the place look paved. This is the best composition yet. I really like it. Nothing growing out of her head, focus is on her and the sphere, but the background relates to the whole and the scenery works.

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/viewed.ez?galleryid=559820&Start=1&Sectionid=2&filter_genre_id=0&WhatsNe

Finally finished picture (I think). I always want to tweek just one more thing, add a bit here and there... Anyway, for now I am done with this and have posted it to the gallery. Thanks for all your help! Happy holidays! Peggy