I spent a great deal of time painting textures for the little fish - and after rendering, the textures look washed out. Any ideas on how to make them stand out more? I gave them a high shine, bump texture... Any help appreciated. R

Here is the texture map for each - fry and alevin. maybe it is the lighting... boy, I have a lot to learn. R

What are you using to light the scene? It looks almost like ambient lighting only. Can we see a screencapture of your scene.

Here is a shot at explaining it. 1. a spot behind (4.) pointing at the trout, with light cone enabled, and greenish color, and casts shadows. 2. a bulb, no shadows, light cream - yellow color, responsible for the bright light against the backdrop ( 4.) 3. a spot, some distance away, brownish color, light cone enabled... don't know if it is doing much, no shadows. 4. a glass backdrop, heavy bump (cell) used to give it a watery look. The background is light blue. I'll play around with light 3 to see if it is helping. Thanks for any help R

It's the light cone. To keep colors intense for underwater scenes, create a light with a light cone falling behind the object for that underwater feel. Then use a regular spot on the subject. Light cones by nature tint/lighten everything within or behind them - the cone is light against dark. Mark

Thanks Mark, I made some changes and added a gel to the spot, turned down the bulb, and put the spot directly above the trout. It's getting closer to what I want. Now, maybe underwater plants... water beatles, what else? R

Much improved! :D The last thing would be to have little particles floating in the water...

This room is much too clean to be a fishing room. Now to work on the fly vise and containers, maps on the wall, trash on the floor, and a happy fisherman at work at the desk... I worked hard to get the lighting soft enough...any feedback appreciated.