I did about 50 test renders to get the lighting perfect...it was hard getting the urchin to be illuminated without causing the caustics to be too bright. photoshop helped there a bit though. I don't use these renders for anything other than desktop backgrounds lol yes you are right miguel....I prefer a less refined render but I wasn't at work over weekend to supervise it rendering on the computer. it's kind of like a present I look forward to on monday mornings....sometimes successful, sometimes not!
rangerrick: I always use interior+ for these type of renders. the studio setup is angled slightly so that I didnt get a spotlight hotspot at the bottom of the image....I just wanted a nice soft falloff. The point light provides all the caustics really.
fletch: I dont think anyone has any doubts over twilight!
thanks for all the comments
Why do we spend time with useless (for some) decoration layouts when we can create beautiful macros