I always thought there should be a few standard default Poser scene setups that newcomers could load up and immediately get some kind of half decent render results. You can learn so much about the basics from a few simple examples like this, visiting the various rooms and parameter dialogues to study the settings. I got a good grounding in 3dsMax this way (plus it had a very good manual). This is assuming you have the desire and aptitude to learn in the first place. 

Poser, like most 3d apps, is a complicated environment for a complete newcomer - it might not seem so having used it for years, but it is. It's not just the UI or the basic principles of image making. It's also the nature of CG at this time that we have to deal with lots of workarounds - to get realistic lighhting, shadows and materials for any given scene you often have to do very counter-intuitive things. Even the big boys have to do this, as mentioned earlier by others. You usually find also that in most apps there will be features that don't quite work as well as you'd like them, so you have to refine the settings to deal with it - or not use those features at all. I actually quite enjoy that challenge, although I'll admit it gets frustrating at times if you have a creative idea that slowly gets buried in technical difficulties (I find hair a nightmare).

I think you have to be realistic about the galleries here too. Most of the posters are going to be hobbyists, perhaps not dedicating an awful lot of time to this particular recreational passtime compared to some others. That's fine, you just have to accept it. There are,in fact, many people doing very nice work of varying degrees (not just within the sphere of realism either), sometimes pushing Poser to the limits of what it can do. I think you have to see it not just in technical terms as well, but the creative ideas that people are dealing with. However you see it, I don't think it serves much of a purpose to get too frustrated by all those non-shadow images - focus on the other ones, and getting your own images in the galleries.

 

PoserPro2014(Sr4), Win7 x64, display units set to inches.

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