Smoking Girl

@Rashad Thanks a lot for your kind comment. When I first discovered the new dome light and fill light I could not imagine how useful they are. And know I like them very much. You and Waleed a right about the smoke. I wanted to make it a bit more swirlier, a bit more comicbook-like (nicely curved) @Waleed. For this kind of rather dark pictures it is sometime difficult too find the right balance between brightness and darkness. How someone will see it, also depens on the kind of screen he uses. Maybe your screen is set up darker than mine, and therefore you hardly see the face.

I think this scene is very successful. The light is very subtle, which to me looks natural and realistic. I disagree to some extent with what Waleed is suggesting. It is nice to have a bright image to upload yes, but not every image is intended to be bright. When one is seeking realism, any sort of mood can be produced and deemed appropriate. What I evaluate is how well the artist has done at the particular study at hand. Even dark scenes like this one are for me good studies of advanced lighting and shadow. For me there is no particular way a finished image should look. From an artistic point of view I think the cigarette facial illumination is acceptable. However, I think Waleed is correct in that a spotlight or something from above striking the face itself could add emphasis to her gorgeous skin. Typically, one would attempt to get some amount of key light onto the face even if it were only along the fringes. I think you have done an amazing job of the indirect lighting. Though overall dark, there is a nice degree of detail visible. The Domes and 3D Fill Lights you have employed are doing a brilliant job of it. The smoke from the cigarette could use a higher frequency settings and perhaps a bit of a swirlier procedural to give a more natural appearance, but generally I'd say the smokes is also moving in the right direction. For me this is image is already a full 5ver for the indirect lighing and the overall mood, but in your case I think a tweak or two more would bring this image to perfect mastery far beyond a mere 5. If you are going to go forward with the cigarette as light source ideal, increase the saturation of the light emission a good bit as this sort of light is often very saturated. Nice to see you exploring these new light types. Hope they are proving useful.

Thank you for your comment Waleed My intention was not to reach clarity, but a special atmosphere. Imagine the woman stands on a little stage. The whole room is rather dark. But there is a spot light that is in the back of her and enlights her shoulders. The only other light comes from the cigarette. Though I am quiet sure, that a glowing cigarette can not deliver enough light in reality to brighten a face. But the point is, it could be and it looks IMHO convincing.