Maybe you have seen my c4d renders. Im very good at choosing materials and hdri maps and setting the radiosity/global illumination for a photorealistic render
I have. If you like that photorealism, you should see if you can get a Maxwell plugin for c4d. I've only used maxwell once for school, but it's off-the-hook as far as realism goes. Also, Vray renderer from chaos group is pretty sweet too.