Rendering Coming out pale when using HDRI with Vray Sun

[charlesnasr]

The rendering is coming out pale and very unrealistic and some how not appealing. I'd really appreciate it if you guys can help me with that and enhance its photo realism. I'm new to Vray for Max so I'm a bit lost. I attached a raw render and my lighting/ camera settings. Im usin a Vray HDRI and Vray sun.

[Corey Beaulieu]

Most likely this issue is caused by you HDRI map itself. It is overcast and thus the render engine is reading it as a larger cast of GI than you are wanting. You should use the Gamma controller in the HDRI map to help focus the emission source of your map and tone down the GI cast.

 

Generally speaking, too, I would not use a Vray sun at full intensity when using an HDRI. Mine would be no higher tha n 0.65 and often times much lower than that even. Additionally, I wouldn't suggest using Vignette on your camera. Not every image needs this to begin with and baking that in makes your exposure setup more difficult to achieve and often unrealistic (i.e. sunny 16 rule of thumb becomes a sunny 8 in your F-Stop).