In the process of remodeling my new house, I was looking to create a photoreal rendering to see how the new layout would look.  I came across this great tutorial and some interesting new shaders that were introduced in Maya 8.5.  The Mental Ray Physical Sun and Sky Shaders are a set of shaders that can be used to create various lighting scenarios and surfaces.

Take a look at the whitepaper and example scene created in Maya.  You really have to try it out to see how amazingly simple it is to create some pretty compelling renders.

Download the Scene