RobertBaron wrote:I think my personal preferences on a heroine’s lasting death face would go #1, #3, and then #2. #1 has attracted me because what’s captured is that moment they never saw coming, their defeat and demise. #3 is very commonly used, but it’s effective. Somehow the hollow shell of a formerly powerful heroine’s corpse is enticing. #2 might be last in my preferences because pain is a great expression up until the death, but the final moment of life should be something more philosophical. Something that captures their life flashing before their eyes. The times I love a pained final expression though are in death traps. A final fate that just utterly obliterated them before they could process what was happening.
I tend to agree with the order you selected for final facial expressions even if I was pleased with the expression of pain captured on the heroine's face in Test Image 02 found in the
other thread. Being shocked goes hand-in-hand with being surprised which to me implies the heroine was unconcerned or oblivious to her own mortality up until that
exact moment. The look in her eyes is one of terror as the veneer of confidence and determination is ripped away. She has no choice in the matter. Whether or not she's ready for it, her life force will be extinguished and the former embodiment of virtue, justice, and order will be reduced to an empty and lifeless vessel.
RobertBaron wrote:Excellent, I do like the brighter version of that picture more.
I guess for constructive criticisms, I would mention her hands. While I do love a strong rigor mortis, her fingers are a tad more cerebral palsy more than “I just got shot in the head”. As you play with lighting, I think you'll also experiment with shading, especially around the edges of light. The light should be fading out around the edges whereas right now everything is perfectly lit by the trunk light. That more spotlighted light would probably also enhance the tone of the picture.
Duly noted about the fingers. I think the tense and awkward finger positions were appropriate at the moment the bullet was boring its way through Sapphire's brain matter since her body's nervous system would have been in a panicked and critical state, but I probably should have relaxed the hands shortly after the bullet smashed out the backside of her skull. Am I offending anyone's sensibilities yet?!? In regards to the lighting issue, I think you're correct in assuming a spotlight would have worked better for the scene, but I think the problem ultimately comes from cranking the point light up to 200,000 lumens when the default value is usually set to 15,000. I found that all of my adjustments under the 50,000 lumen threshold didn't seem to have a noticeable effect on the overall scene so my solution may have been a little heavy handed. I'll consider this a lesson learned and will be actively working to improve my lighting technique in the future.
