I would suggest NOT using your own photos for LIGHTING. While, YES, it can be done, regular photos do NOT contain the special lighting characteristics of HDR files. HDR stands for "High Dynamic Range"-- that means they are BEYOND regular 24 bit photos. There is a special process for creating HDR files. Really GREAT HDR cameras, used by professionals, cost around $24,000-$40,000. There are tutorials already on the HDR websites explaining how you can make your own- BUT I don't think you will want to since there are SO MANY GOOD FREE ones to be had... I would suggest you DOWNLOAD some HDR files and play with them using a SIMPLE 3D model- until you understand what the lighting characteristics are...