Just finished modeling this fucking scene and i the render looks so boring. How can i improve it?
Adjust the angle and lighting so that the solo pawn will have a bit of light on it
scale the solo pawn down, move the camera closer behind it and low to the board. angle it upwards slightly and change the Fov to a higher value so it looks like the opposing pieces are towering over the pawn.exaggerate the scale different of the pieces so the queen and king are prominent and more threatening. Add some randomness to the rotation and position of the pieces. give the other pieces a marble texture or something; wood grain is boring. make the light more focused; like a spotlight with some falloff.
Add a subtle rim shader to the solo spawn so he pops better, or make the board behind it brighter so the silhouette reads better.
Add a different coloured fill light opposite the primary light source.
add some subtle post effects.
>>532740
The pieces aren't really standing out from the board. At the moment the most visible element is the pattern on the board. I suggest making the squares much closer in value, so the pieces pop out more.
A light source more to the side of the main pawn, probably to the viewer's right would give him a nice strong edge highlight.
Perfect symmetry always makes things seem artificial and dull. Shift the camera to the side a little.
Is there any real reason that the board is larger than an actual chessboard? Seems like a normal board would work just as well; moving the pawn closer to the enemy pieces makes it easier to have them looming over him. Don't be afraid to hide some of the background figures behind the foreground one or clip a few at the edge of the image. It's pretty cear what you are showing, so no need to include everything.
>>532740
Rescale the board to be the proper size
make the board look like a proper board
place the board on a table
make background objects etc
set up your camera with proper depth of field
you need rim lighting