If you want to make a 3d model from photos, check out Photomodeler Lite, a freeware app. I think you'll need several photos of the object from different angles. http://www.photomodeler.com/Lite/ Rubycon

Dan Whiteside has some wonderful textures at his site. http://www.bryceworks.com/ Rubycon

Nice pics, Vile. How many light sources did you use to get such soft shadows? Are you familiar with Necati Pamuk's tutorial? http://www.bryceanworlds.com/pages/simulated_radiosity1.html Rubycon

A woman who goes by the name Calyxa has done some terrific beach scenes. This page tells how she did one of them.
http://calyxa.best.vwh.net/pearl/seacliff.html

You'll have to create a mask for the transparant portions of the 2d planes. Use the Mask Render feature in Bryce.
This technique of using 2d planes has been used in major films (Gladiator, Phantom Menace) to create large crowds. Except they use AVIs of people rather than still images.

Rubycon