New Hobby User getting poor results

[DapperDan]

The beginner tutorials all seem to focus on interior scenes and adding lights.
Is there a tutorial that helps with exterior scenes, with no lights except for the sun?

When I render this scene, and anything like it, the interior of the house is dark and the shaded areas are too dark as well. In reality, there would be plenty of light bouncing around and lighting this covered porch area.

What am I doing wrong?
Note: The model is almost 50 megs, and I don't want to upload it.

Test1.jpg (406.74 KiB) Viewed 15100 times

Test2.jpg (392.6 KiB) Viewed 15100 times

[DapperDan]

Here is a rendering from the porch.
Sun is set at default level of 5. Background is Physical sky.
Porch screens are grey glass set at 10% opaque.

Does this program require multiple interior light sources and all sorts of lighting tricks to achieve a decent level of light?
I have watched several tutorials. Nothing so far addresses this fundamental issue.

Test3.jpg (374.89 KiB) Viewed 15096 times

Porch3.jpg (3.84 MiB) Viewed 15096 times

[ntxdave]

Have you tried an HDRI background?

What Preset Setting are you using (I.e. 09 or 08)?

[Fletch]

Welcome Dapperdan!
Which render settings have you tried?
Are you using the default sun and sky?

Please follow the 6 essentials video tutorial series. It's the best step-by-step through all six buttons on the Twilight Render toolbar.
Looks to me like your glass needs to be applied the Template>Architectural Glass>Common, and make it white.
Easy 08 is best for exteriors lit with physical sky. A spherical sky (not HDRi, but a good treeline spherical sky) will go a long way to making your scene more realistic looking in seconds. See the video tutorial series mentioned above. (Remember that you can slow down the speed of the video if it's talking too fast.)