New member looking for a direction to head with this project. I modeled and rendered the planet in 3dsmax and am at a stand still on the direction to head. i can either finish the scene in photoshop with some digital painting (nebula,galaxy,ect...) or i can attempt to model more in max and do some post production in photoshop at the end. Anyways, any advice on composition, mediums, and techniques would be greatly appreciated. 

Welcome to SV!
Very nice planet you have here!
Well, the possibilities are almost endless from this point, you can do whatever you want.
What i would?...I think I would start working in PS. Paint a nebula, stars, a main star maybe...also I would render another planet to put it somewhere in the far, or a moon. Some spaceships maybe. The list is endless

Hi Archidan,

welcome @ SV!

Go step by step the way you want. Ask ten people, you will get 10 different answers for your finish.

I think you can find a lot of support for Max & PS in the tutorial corner  

-> http://www.solarvoyager.com/tutorials.asp <-

Have fun here @ SV and show the result.

cheers

Felix

Your planet is outstanding!  You should work up a nice starfield for the background using Photoshop (Xylazin gave you a link to some of our tutorials), and grab some nebula brushes from our download area (here).  That'll get you working with hand-drawn as well as Max-rendered elements and build your skills.

Then I think I'd add a space station, moon or asteroid or something else, using Max for that element.

Welcome to Solar Voyager Archidan! What an open ended question!

Your planet looks great so far I would probably add some kind of nebula and starfield since it always seems a little empty without them. But I think I'd spend most of my time modeling something like a space station for the foreground, some kind of docking or service station maybe, or a mining station covering a small moon or asteroid. Or maybe even some kind of orbital ring, stretching around the planet and anchored at spots to the surface.

Those guys pointed to some good resources, there's also a few more on the resources page of my website too ( gotta plug it a little bit)

welcome to SV Archidan possibilities was wrote above me nebula (handmade or in apophisi or other program), space station, moon. maybe only stars. it's up to you how you decide to continue
but you have a very good starting point with that planet

wow thanks for the help everyone looks like you have a great community here! I'm excited to start working with spaceart! After the feedback (and endless perusing of this site) I decided since I'm stronger in 3ds max then Photoshop a ship or space outpost will probably be the direction I head. I will attemped some simple nebula clouds (to tone down the flare) with the brushes provide on the site so we shall see. Here is an update of my image. 
Full Wallpaper View: 5000x3000

That's shaping up really nicely!  One thing to watch out for: You have some stars showing through the orange/brown planet. 

Another detail to watch out for -- the lighting on your planets.  Always make sure the lit crescents point toward the light source.  The small moon in the foreground looks OK but the small moon in the upper left has its lit crescent pointing to the upper right when it should point almost directly right, toward that sun.

Simple details, but getting them right really makes an image work.

nice progres
klankster is right about that stars shining through planet, bu i noticed it only after he wrote it.

and rotate tha litle moon a bit clockwise and it will be done

maybe use handpainted star instead of this flare like i do HERE. just few clicks and playing with cloud filter and layer setings. but flares are not always bad . in this case it could be as it is

I agree, nice progress, I like this pic 

cheers