Hello and first try

[oldm4n]

Hi guys, I'm new here. I did not find the place where I can introduce myself, so I do it here. I'm 42 years old and I draw and paint for fun since many years (it's not my job: I am a computer guy, I program websites and such). Drawing and painting gives me fun and happiness, that's why I do.
I like as well going for a drive with my wife, taking some photos and having a break in a good restaurant. I also cook some good stuff, I love sharing a good diner and good wines with my friends. You guessed it: I am an Epicurean 

So, now presentation is done. I am discovering Terragen and your community. Many of you have stunned skills; I am browsing sharing images and some are very realistic like photos.

This image is my first try but I don't know why, something's wrong with it (light, angle's camera, colors, water, ...) so, if you can say how improve it, I will be grateful.

Trees and plants: Xfrog
Grass: Mr Lamppost

Have a nice day
[attach=1]

[kaedorg]

First thing to say : Welcome

[archonforest]

Welcome to the best Forum on the net. (You will see it later

I would do some tone/contrast tuning so the colors are more dynamic...etc

[DannyG]

Nice start thats for damn sure !

[yossam]

Welcome to the forum.............enjoy your stay. 

[inkydigit]

welcome oldm4n...
this is a great start for sure... some well considered and well placed objects... now some colour variation would be a move forward from here... more surface layers, maybe some more little fake stones, look forward to seeing how you progress
cheers
Jason

[Kadri]

Welcome!
Nice start

[Dune]

Yes, it's a good starting point. I would get rid of the 2 large trees, add some more fake stones or a pop of stones in the front, add more species of grass, more size variation in the grass pops, reduce the haze, and add some more cloud layers. Then see what happens....

[oldm4n]

Thank you guys for your kind words; much appreciated 

Dune: I tried to follow your advices; leave the two trees was a good idea.
Not much variations on plants (only 3 populations on this image), but I saw some tricks from you on the forum, on color variations (thanks for that !), and I played with them (maybe too much). 

(I hope there is not a copyright's problem with color variations because these models are from Xfrog and Mr Lamppost

[attach=1]

[Dune]

Still work to do; reduce haze, get rid of the clouds or replace by other softer ones, reduce size of flowers, and group them (use a power fractal as (additional) masking shader with high contrast (1, even 2) and maybe sizes like 5/25/1, move color offset a bit to the left , -0.25 or -1). Use more stones in front, coverage 2 for small sized stones, so you get some gravely patch.

[oldm4n]

Thanks Dune for your comment, that's very helpful.
I think I've made a big mistake: when I created objects, I set their scale to 100; I guess it's for this reason that the haze was too strong : everything is giant ! (currently the haze density is set to 0.005)

I had some problems with fake stones: the smallest ones were placed over the biggest stones. I tried to merge them, like I saw in the forum, but colors merge too; I have not been able to fix it. So, I added a stone population over the smallest fake stones.

[attach=1]

[Dune]

I think it's better to start fresh with decent scales. Much better to work that way, and you may get a much more realistic effect with more ease. It's all in meters. You can use a simple shape for comparison of sizes (if I do a different set of fractals to try out vegetation simulation, I often put a 10x10 or 100x100m simple shape in view, so I can compare what renders to the size it is), or a card object, and build up your terrain from there. No need to resize objects then, or fiddle with atmo settings.
You can look for some fake stone tgc's in this forum, plenty about.

[oldm4n]

I think you're right: everything is wrong and hard to set; I'll start another one with right scale

[TheBadger]

I like the gorge that starts in the distance. It reminds me of a place I know a little bit.