
Large Hi res version - no textures
Textured with Photoshop background for testing:

I'm currently having issues resolving the lighting and what to do with the background.
I'd like to replicate the bright sunshine you get in the caribbean with the well defined shadows and most surfaces being well lit. Using directional lights I can get the shadows how I want on the front faces but not on the sides etc without 'blowing out' the textures.
Below is how I'd like all the shadows to look:

But in this Hi res render you can see that using more than one directional light is washing out the shadow near the 'pepsi' sign.
Hi res - lit & textured test
When testing with one directional light the sides of the buildings were not as bright as I need. Has anyone created or seen a 'bright sunlight' type light rig that would help?
As this is for my showreel I'm unsure of the best way to show this model. Turntable with no background? Or stills with a photoshop/PFX background? (Dont fancy Paint FX due to render times etc).
Any suggestions??
Cheers,
Trev