Post-Processing For Photorealism

This series of videos will demonstrate how to apply realistic post-processing to your renders to achieve photoreal results. A great render, with realistic modelling, shading, and texturing is a necessary starting point, but the right post-processing will let you reach that final 10% to really help create the illusion of a photographic image.

The training applies to both Photoshop and to Affinity Photo, all of the techniques are demonstrated in both packages, and the pros and cons of each package are also discussed (spoiler: Affinity Photo performs better than Photoshop in the tasks demonstrated).

The training covers photographic effects and gives advice on how to apply them with subtlety and care, referring to real-world references to eliminate guesswork and to achieve the most believable results to closely mimic actual photography.

There is also in-depth training on how to reduce or eliminate noise from renders, with better results that those achieved with render-engine denoisers (such as the denoising pass in Vray), the manual method demonstrated preserves considerably more detail than the Vray equivalent. A technique for effectively removing fireflies without damaging fine details is also explained, allowing you to remove fireflies in any situation. The noise removal techniques will be invaluable to users whose main render engine doesn't offer a denoising solution (the native Modo render engine for example). All of the denoising methods use tools that are native to Affinty and Photoshop, no third-party plugins required.

Tonemapping is also covered, outlining the best approach for tonemapping prior to post-processing, and techniques for effective tonemapping in Affinity Photo are explained (as well as Photoshop of course). The Pros and cons of Affinity's Tonemapping Persona are discussed, and an alternative method with better results is shown.

Finally there is a section on grading, and how best to approach it for photorealistic results.

The series comprises of 9 videos, with all the relevant assets included so that you can follow along.