Quote - Hello cobaltdream Most of the image examples you have given are using non-standard exposures, lighting techniques and perhaps film stock inorder to achieve their effect. I'm not certain how to effectly adjust exposure settings within poser, but I can safely say that somethings you are going to require a certain amount of post work. Here is a quick atempt to mimic one of your examples, simply by taking the original render and then adjusting over-all brightness from within an image editing program. good luck jdc

non-standard exposures, lighting techniques, and yeah, even various film stock, are what make a photo more than just a snapshot.  if what you're basically saying is we can't duplicate any more than a very narrow and fairly boring type of photos without postwork, then personally, none of this matters and what i need to master is painting skills.  because i've been there and done that, and i'm looking for more right now.  and i don't mean more realistic.   the one and only reason i'm interested in realism is to achieve the (imho) interesting effects light and shadow i've seen in reality and in photos.

i don't buy that it's that impossible to get closer than we have before, and get a better reaction  to light than we have in the past.  personally, i have faith both in bagginsbill's abilities to create incredible shaders and to say no when it's too much trouble.   so thanks for the advice, and i'll keep building on my 2d skills (which are not bad).  but i'm still interested in seeing if bagginsbill has any 3d advice or techniques to offer.