This is the light probe image I used.

The image was actually made for another scene. So it is not "accurate" because it doesn't reflect the actual surroundings of this scene. But it doesn't really matter that much. It produces a believable indoor lighting. I'm now experimenting with making more custom light probes. (The red corners are the result of a red object behind the mirror ball in the scene I used to make the probe. Poser doesn't look in the corners so it doesn't matter.)

Anyway, set up an IBL light with this image plugged into the Light Color. Set the Light Color to WHITE. I used intensity 37% - any values around 35% to 55% work well. Set IBL COntrast to 1. On this light, enable Ambient Occlusion. I used a strength of .25 and left the Scene AO Options at the default values.

Set up a second light to bring out highlights. It can be infinite or spot. In this image it was a spot light with depth map shadows. Do not turn on AO for this light. Intensity was 44%. Angle start/end was 0/130. Distance Start/End was 0/0. XYZ Rotate was -45/38/-12. XYZ Translation was 10/14/10.

Play around with the values. Do fast renders with no raytracing to get the desired light levels right. Then turn on raytracing to enable the AO function. Unless you want reflections in the scene, you can set the raytrace bounces to 0 for faster rendering.

I know there are better setups, as face_off has shown. But since you asked, I tell :)

Now I'll "pose" another teaser - do you want a mini-tutorial on how to use a mirror ball to render your own custom light probes in poser?

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Renderosity forum reply notifications are wonky. If I read a follow-up in a thread, but I don't myself reply, then notifications no longer happen AT ALL on that thread. So if I seem to be ignoring a question, that's why. (Updated September 23, 2019)