Need rendering references
 

You guys know any sites/dvds/books that are really good for realistic rendering/lighting? I've been doing some searches on rendering and I hear about you guys talking about mental ray and HDRI, but I have no idea exactly when or how to use it.

Some of the sites I found doesn't seem to give enough information and in my books, there seems to not be enough information on rendering.

3d World has a good photorealistic rendering section in this month, also Maya secrets of the pros has quite a good section on rendering that goes in to the sepperate passes.

Not much help but maybe a start, other than that all i can think of is to make a simple medel and try and intergrate it into a picture by mimicing the lighting in the photo

Cool thanks I'll take a look.