How to minimize/soften the shadows? I am very beginner in Blender Cycles.
I am trying to imitate this in cycles: Easter Eggs
Not sure if this scene is CG or an actual photograph.
I have modeled the eggs (easy), now I just want to imitate the lighting setting of this scene.
I have tried adding:


One White Plane emitter above the eggs
Same Plane emitter behind the camera, directly facing the eggs.
Two Plane emitters on either sides of the camera facing the eggs.
Turned Ambient Occlusion ON for the world.



I am getting either too crisp shadows or crossing shadows but never the same as in the scene.

So my question is which lamp should be used and where ?
Please also explain why ?

I am currently here:


If I make the plain larger, the whole scene gets too bright:
You don't need much. A single large light source (the less sources the easier it is to deal with multiple shadows), and a semi-refletive surface for the ground.

Larger sources will create less defined shadows.

Why?

Do a search online the concepts of Umbra and Penumbra.

Larger sources will make the umbra be smaller than the penumbra.



(imgage source: http://www.viz.tamu.edu/faculty/parke/ends375f04/notes/sec7_5.html)

So in this case just make a large area light and let it do the magic.



For a nicer tonal reproduction use the Filmic Blender OCIO Confuguration, you can read more about it here:Render with a wider dynamic range in cycles to produce photorealistic looking images