Mizrael, I think we all got thinking along practical lines but I think maybe the question was intended more along conceptual lines. Tthe technical ability of Robo2010 aside, Robo2010 had an interesting question... what distinguishes CGI from photographic from Real World visual. I would love to see a consideration of that issue. Meanwhile, issues of texture aside, on a practical level, realism would be tremendously improved with an Ambient Occlusion and/or environmental light set up lighting and wacros plus and most important: the tools of face_off which make nodes actualy useful to us ignoramuses, and in my opinion single handed revolutionized the Poser render and accounts for at least half the realism in any given render. Yet there are those texture, pose, symmetry/asymmetry issues. Would be neat if there was a P6 update of Snow Sultan or Geeps scene construction/render 10 tips or intro. I however am most certainly not qualified to contribute this. We do have to deal with the original question, why does a mid shot seem so much less real then a close shot all other things being equal. The comparison to tthe pin-up is most informative... again issues of contrast color balance and noise I thing to some extent. In photography these aspects are independent of distance to object but in renders not so. Finally, I understand having difficulty Posing a question clearly and wanting to understand principals beyond my actual skill level to address. No offense please Robo2010, I say this for the sake of argument here rather than as a criticism of your actual example... I had imagined from the start your question was not taking background, clothes etc. in consideration. Mizrael too, please take no offence as none is intended... I'm just trying to advocate generosity concerning people's posts and the difficulty in communicating in this medium/format :)