trying to mix 3d with real-life (again)… what do you guys think? i spent ALOT of time on the lighting…
heh, wow, thanks! and yours is pretty good too!
Looks production quality to me! Good job. 
Do you mind sharing how you went about matching the lighting conditions and otherwise blending the cube into the photo?
hmm…
well, i basically just payed attention to where areas were lighted in the photo. then i just setup a few lamps and a spotlight to cast the shadow. i actually thought it could be better honestly, but i ran out of ideas. as for “blending” the scene, i just put a plane behind the cube, made it shadeless, and textured it with the picture. the cube is just sitting in front of it. and, if you’re wondering how i made the shadow, i made another plane, put it in front of the cliff in the picture, modeled it a little by putting in a few crevaces and things, then made it “Only Shadow” or whatever in the materials section. kind of simple really. 
There’s too much positive here!
The shadow is distasteful, It really stands out, also the cube glows a bit too much, it makes the lighting look unrealistic.
Otherwise… I approve.
it glows? what? its supposed to be reflective… aaaand… the shadow is kinda supposed to stand out. if it didn’t, you’d never notice it and it wouldn’t look right.
I think it’s very, very good, but maybe the focus of the image is not the same as in the cube’s. It’s either that or the quality of the original picture contrasts with that of the cube’s.
thanks.
and, yeah. its hard to take high-quality pics…