You've done a wonderful job, Chuck! Be proud of yourself. The care and attention to detail truly show. i actually rather like the lighting, myself--and lighting is a huge, huge part of making a render come out well. This is the part where, having something to judge by, you can purchase lighting sets and pose sets that will get you 90% of where you want to go in a fraction of the time. Some stuff i use: Eric Westray's poses for Victoria & Michael, because he pays a lot of attention to detail and has a good feel for real figures; whwhitney's pose parts are a fine addition to Eric's, and help tremendously. DAZ3D's UD Lighting is essential, and Blackhearted's lighing set fills out the cranny's; you can tweak both of those and get great results. There is a tutorial on photographic lighting by Syyd, i think, that is excellent, too. i think the shadow is jaggy because you have a bump map on the ground plane, perhaps? Otherwise, soften the shadow map by going to 128 or so. i wouldn't go any lighter for this figure, since it has a nice chiaroscuro as is. The highligh from the spot on the shoulder is delicious. Your hands are excellent! You could probably have sunk her into the floor a tiny bit, and perhaps gotten her feet onto the floor by rotating her on the X-axis at the Body or Hip. A little judicious mesh collision will give the illusion of gravity: see my "Seated Nude" for a prime example. The distortion at the joints, as you know, can't be helped, and most of us deal with that in post-render work in Photoshop (or some such). By the way, use dials, and enter the numbers from the key pad when you have to get really fiddly. Nothing else is going to be as accurate. And as someone said earlier, examine a figure from every angle before you're done with a pose. And when you are trolling the galleries and see something you like, check out the credits, as many folk will list what they used. i do that as a curtesy to people who are shopping for cool clothes, props, and stuff, as i am wont to do, as much as a thank you to the other artists whose work i rely upon to make a good picture. Thank you very much for sharing! Be of good heart, and do lots more work.