Sun strip through a skylight.

Learning Notes:

Direction creates shadow which gives form. front light flattens. down on face emphasize nose cheeks lips eyes.
Size: smaller bulb throws sharper shadows. shape of light affects specular shape.
Color: warm, cold. time of day. trick: mix warm focus with cool ambiance.
Readability: object separating (rim light). false color is exposure: grey is mid value. fill light to bring out parts that the main would blow out or can’t show. more readability can been the naturalness.
Emphasis: brightness needs shadows. lume fall off is non-linear.

---

Some artificial lighting.

I tried to make the coffee the focus, without blur. Spotlight on the cup, and a low power black hole light on the donut.

---

A sunny scene under some trees (leaf shadows).

---

By Candle light. It’s an LED light.

But then I thought to put the candle into the cup. And then I noticed the shadow the cup threw. Light does not go through glass.

Here’s the quick work around with a mix of other shaders and light rays as factors.

---

Relighting the Donut scene is the next task. The first one is a flashlight through the window.

---

It spins and slides.

---

I decided to do another render with the depth of field turned off and a higher transmission weight.

---

Here’s the final composition. I added a plate, table, wall, and glass window. Is the coffee blurry? Its part of the lesson.

Areas of Learning:
Lighting, camera depth of field, basic animation.

---

I went back and reworked the donut to render better in Cycles. The texture still has some sharp angles on the edges, but they don’t show up in the viewport. I realized the texture is a cross between raised and cake.

---

Here’s the Cycles glass shader difference.

---