The use of HDR maps as background of a scene is a great way to add realistic lighting to any environment and even improve surfaces with reflexive properties. In Blender we can use HDR maps in several ways to render projects in architecture and with Blender Cycles the final result will be even greater! You may be asking yourself now, what do I need to get started with image-based lighting using HDR maps? Well, the first thing you must do is to get some HDR files to test with Blender. And for that you can use some of the free HDR maps available to download from HDRMaps.com.
They have several HDR maps available to download on their freebies section. The amount of maps available is really great and with options for external scenes, interior scenes and more.
