Cheap'n'Easy? (Score 2)

There's a lot of variations on "realistic human 3D models are difficult and expensive, therefor CGI software is unlikely to replace photography anytime soon" in the posts above. Wanted to point out: DAZStudio4Pro is currently free (along with its companion programs Bryce and Hexagon) and comes with an androgynous free human figure (called Genesis) that can be easily worked into a wide variety of realistic men, women, children, aliens, and demons:
http://www.daz3d.com/i/products/daz_studio?

The site (and several others) sell presets to easily make Genesis into various realistic characters, also lots of 3D clothes, props, and scenery -- but, like Blender, DAZStudio4Pro is free (unlike Blender it's not open-source, has been paid software in the past, and almost certainly will be again).

Plenty of examples on the site's forums of extremely photo-realistic 3D human renders, too: http://forum.daz3d.com/ , try starting with http://forum.daz3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=189377 and http://forum.daz3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=165191