Poser 5: 1) Firefly mode, raytracing on, shadows on, 300dpi (or 72dpi if I know the only use for the image will be online or monitor display.) I never choose P4 render engine anymore. 2) At least 1000x1000 pixels for a square image, considerably larger (e.g. 2500x2500 and up) if for print media. This is very variable, depending upon the image's purpose. 3) Again, depends upon the image, but as a general rule, if parts of the image are noticably "washed out" or "overexposed," you're overdoing it. This is an extremely common problem in Poser renders, many artists seem not to notice that they're doing it, it's ruined many an otherwise good render. If I'm using a global lighting system, I'll often turn off shadows for a number of the lights to help speed rendering. I prefer no more than six lights for portraiture, with a maximum of two of them having shadows. 4) In most cases you won't need to worry about things like texture mapping, bucket size, and the less "obvious" settings. The worst things about the default settings are the camera focus and the default three-point lighting. 38mm cam is awful for most purposes. My default is 70 - 90mm. It's been said that a setting of 55mm roughly replicates the human eye's focus. I always delete the default lights and either start with a good set by Trav (free at RDNA) and modify it, or create my own system from scratch, usually starting with a spotlight trained on the main point of focus.