[simonblack]

Rendered images can only contain what rendering has been programmed into it. An image of a real scene has millions of bits of detail that are missing from rendered scenes.

Example: blades of grass. A rendered scene with blades of grass would need to render thousands or even millions of random blades of grass. Who can justify programming each and every one of those. A real scene contains all those blades of grass in the physics of focusing light.