GT-R automotive shot

[valentin_valev]

Hey, community!

I found a free Nissan GT-R model at GrabCAD, so I decided to test my "experience" in Keyshot.
I have still a lot to learn about the HDRI lightning, textures and so on.
After some post processing this is the final result.

I really want to hear some ideas and criticism so we can help each other.

Also I will provide the .ksp so you can work with it guys - sharing is awesome
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8UntNOBbZGxR2VGWVZvS1RSRVE&authuser=0

Thank you!

[feher]

Hi Valentin,
Two things pop out at me right away.
The vehicle needs to be color balanced so it fits into the scene
Vehicle contrast is to dark for the background.

A little trick I do when I'm working is make a hue and saturation layer at the top of my image and crank the saturation all the way up. What I'm looking for are colors matching in the shadow areas and overall. In the attachment notice your car is blue while the background is cyan. That would be a red flag for me. You should see some cyan in your vehicle.
The second image is the car color balanced with the Hue and saturation layer on. The last is with it off.
Hope this helps.
Tim

[mjb]

Tim,
Could you explain that again in more detail please? Pretend I'm stupid 
Any visual aid to balance up cars with backgrounds is extremely helpful...
Thank you!

[mjb]

1) create new adjustment layer (hue and saturation)
2)put the saturation right up
3)go to original layer > image>adjustments> colour balance - are you selecting just the car at this stage? (using select-colour range??)
Thanks in advance!

[Esben Oxholm]

A little trick I do when I'm working is make a hue and saturation layer at the top of my image and crank the saturation all the way up. What I'm looking for are colors matching in the shadow areas and overall. In the attachment notice your car is blue while the background is cyan. That would be a red flag for me. You should see some cyan in your vehicle.

But what if the car actually has some blue color to it while the background has a material with some cyan in it. Doesn't it make sense then that the car appears more blue when saturation is cranked up?

Or what if the car was red?
I get that the shadow has to fit in terms of color, but the car itself? I'm not sure I get this 100% either.
Please explain

[mjb]

+1!  ...or if there is a multi-coloured background, such as a landscape?
This one works, I can see that... but how do you apply this (basically what Mr Oxholm said) to a a different scene with a different coloured car?

[feher]

Good Questions,
Even if this was a blue car I should see hints of cyan. Look in the shadow area on the backplate what colors do you see ? You should have the same colors in your shadow areas on the car. or something very close. Might be a darker tone but that color should be there. Same thing goes in the bright areas. If your backplate is showing yellow and oranges in the lighter areas on the backplate then your lighter areas on the car should have those colors in it too. No matter what color vehicle it is. If your vehicle was showing green and purple in the highlighted area then your car is not color balanced to the background.
So the question would be why. It's because the dome is not color corrected to the backplate. I would start there first. If I wanted to fix this up front. I would work the dome.  Or leave it as is and fix it in post.
I hope this helps.
Tim

[feher]

1) create new adjustment layer (hue and saturation)
2)put the saturation right up
3)go to original layer > image>adjustments> colour balance - are you selecting just the car at this stage? (using select-colour range??)
Thanks in advance!

Yes I just color balanced the vehicle. 

[mjb]

Oh I see!
I understand now, makes sense. I actually tried this last night..it's a great way to spot anything glaringly obvious.

Thanks Tim!