Of course, you could create a (in your opinion) competitive Terragen image in minutes.
But you should not.
If you take your time, you will
- tweak the general terrain until you find it worth to reveal a great view
- tweak the terrain height, steepness and water level
- tweak the sum position until the lighting is matching
- tweak the clouds until they look credible enough
- tweak the atmosphere until it alters the colors as you expect it
- tweak the camera position to get the final view
This shall take you several hours (if you are serious about it), and you will need them because the preview window will not always show your mistakes obvious enough, sometimes you will see them only in a full render pass.
Of course, thanks to the programmers - many thanks. But in fact, the artists make the picture look great. A good canvas and a good brush are tools, but only an artist can use them to make you 8o
