Hi all, Sorry to be so late in replying and saying thanks for all your advice- I was off sick and I am the last person in Britain without internet at home! Typically, shortly after posting I had a bit of a breakthrough- see attached image. There's no "artificial" lights- just the sun, sky and ambient light. JC and Agiel- strangely I've found checking "indirect reflections" doesn't seem to affect the image and as render times are looooong for this image I unchecked it. Nevertheless I'll try checking it again to see if it improves my results. Oreo- thanks, the Vue model to follow. Pentamiter, Bruno and MDT- thanks, your advice has helped me understand the settings a lot better. Chipp- great images! The general brightness while maintaining contrast between highlighted edges and dark corners is exactly what I've been after. I've especially found it hard to render flat white surfaces without a patchy result. I'll check out your link. Many thanks for all your advice, Jackson