The size of the image is quite large because the image might be used for printing purposes and the larger the image the better. You should always aim to render your image for printing purposes just in case your image gets accepted into a magazine gallery or art book. You don't want to have to re-render your image at a later stage and re-do any post work that you apply.

So with everything setup it's time to hit that render button for one last time.

Here is the final Image rendered straight out of Mental Ray (Fig.26).

Photoshop

In Photoshop I used 3 adjustment layers to create the final image, namely ‘Levels', ‘Colour Balance' and ‘Photo Filter'

Here are the settings I used for the 3 adjustment layers (Fig.27).



I also used Lens blur to provide Depth of Field. Using a Zdepth render element, I placed this image in the Alpha channel of the PSD. I then selected ‘Lens Blur' from the effects menu in Photoshop which adds a little photographic realism to your image. You will notice the highlights on the steps in the background become over exposed and really twinkle with these specular highlights adding to the ‘Damp' feel we wish to achieve.

Here are the settings I used for Depth of Field (Fig.28).


Here is the finished product (Fig.29).


I'm quite happy with the end result and I think I achieved what I set out to do. Hopefully it tells a story and makes you want to see what's behind that door or what's on the other side of the archway. Most importantly I hope you were able to follow this tutorial and learn something from it. I actually learned a lot making it and enjoyed myself too. Thanks for reading and happy lighting!