Portrait of an Elven Queen

Just an art study focusing on lighting and textures. I do these to make sure I have the basics down, because without the basics, the complex renders are doomed to fall apart. I think sometimes people don't realize how important it is to practice. So I do a lot of stuff like this, but I don't usually publish them. I really liked this one though, and thought I'd share it.

I'm really enjoying the aging morphs that Daz3d put out for V4 and M4. It's nice to be able to add subtle amounts of age so that every doesn't look like they're 20 years old. It's also nice that it's gradual and not overdone. I was trying to get that stately queen look while keeping the elven agelessness. You know she's seen some years, but you'd be hard-pressed to say how many.

I used a modified photographer's 3-point light setup here: A key light, a back light and instead of a fill light I used uberenvironment ambient lighting with the studio preset.
I also added a brushed metal shader to the armor textures and a chrome texture to the earrings and nosering, so that they could stand up to a close render.

Enjoy, and let me know what you think.