I've been working in VRay for nearly two years and I would consider myself a decent artist. My materials and texturing is good but my lighting has always lacked. I'm having trouble achieving well lit interior rooms, with nice contrast and colours, but I always end up with overexposed spots and the rest of the room being, just okay.
I want my renders to look more like these:
http://www.cgarchitect.com/2017/02/vemdalen-kitchen
http://www.cgarchitect.com/2017/02/creative-city---neu-marx7
http://www.cgarchitect.com/2017/02/creative-city---neu-marx8
http://www.cgarchitect.com/2017/03/bankside-flat---2
Maybe it is just because I know that my images are just renders, but I always feel like they don't like right, they look 3d. They never have that realistic, photographic quality that I see from professionals. I am very critical of myself, I don't ever love what I end up making, but I want to improve myself a lot this year.
Any tips? Anything I should be doing in VRay? I see people using HDRi's and getting great results, but mine don't turn out that nice. My raw renders always need a lot of work, because the lighting is never as even as I want, but I've seen other peoples unedited work and the render is almost good enough to publish as is.
Sorry if that felt like I was ranting, I just really want to get better, I want to be the best I possibly can be, especially if I am going to be doing this professionally. Thanks for any help
