So I worked with your advice for awhile and came up with version 2... I combined textures on the terrains, using 2 texture to keep the sand and add some graininess to the stone. The ship already was a free 3D model, as is the stone structure (I modified it slightly)... I moved the shadows to keep the immediate foreground in shadow and the cove below in the light (ala Hildebrant)... Any further comments VERY welcome... and thanks for the last round, they were a BIG help. I am also thinking of creating a woman in Poser and having her sit on the edge of the building, as if waiting for her husband to return from sea. Or perhaps I'll turn the ship 180 degrees and have her lamenting her hubby leaving for the sea... Anyway....thanks for the help.

This looks much better jabbiata, the textures on the terrain are working well now. One thing though, I think there should be more detail in the shadowed area, its a bit too black. You could try using some radial lights with a low setting, not too much, just enough to let us see some detail on the dark side of the building. I look forward to seeing version 3. 8) Catlin

I agree with Catlin, there would be light bouncing off the brighter areas in the foreground onto the walls, so a dim radial showing a little foreground material would help a little....

This is looking great! The only thing that's getting to me is the amount of haze that's making the sky and the ship hard to see. I'd actually leave the haze there and move the ship forward. I'm also lookin forward to the the next version! Cory BS

Thanks for the advice....! I'm headin' out for travel for work, but I'll see ya'll later in the week!

I'm very selfish about dark and light areas. I tend to make a picture look how I want it to. I use a laptop mostly and obviously a CFT shows up dark areas brighter than a CRT. It's a compromise. Do you lose the atmosphere you gained in order to let people see the detail? You can't please all the people all the time, so I say go with what you like.