Don't forget your shadows, they can make or break an image. All of what I'm saying here relates to Poser 4 style renders. P5's Firefly renderer works on a different principle, and doesn't render shadow maps.

In the table below you can see the same scene rendered 4 times using a single spot, and a single global light with shadows turned off (don't forget you can do that too) for basic illumination. Each render has the spot set to a different Map Strength and you can see the difference. The lower the Map Strength the softer the shadows. You'll also find that the lower the Map Strength the faster the render. Shadows aren't always harsh and black, so remember to soften them if the scene calls for it.

I hope some of this proves useful, and I hope you enjoy playing around with your shadows. If you have any questions, leave 'em at PlanIt 3D and I'll do my best to answer them, and remember, this isn't a "you must do this" sort of tutorial, more a "hey, have some fun and improve your renders at the same time" type of thing.

One final tip, returning to P5 rendering for a moment. If you DO want to render in Firefly, but you don't want all the shadows sharp, render your scene once in Firefly, and then again with the P4 renderer, and you can blend the two renders in your image editing tool of choice.