this isn't pure poser 8 tech. i took some of what the tuts you guys directed me to and incorporated that and came up with a solution.  I first created a sphere and surrounded it with spot lights. then parenting the lights to the sphere i was able to move them where i wanted the light to be.  then deleting either the top half or the bottom half of the "light sphere" and then deleting the sphere itself i was left with directional lights where i wanted them.  By selecting which lights to leave and which lights to delete i was able to pinpoint where the lights pointed at. the rest is a simple matter of light color and intensity. and by determining what kind of light it is (spot, point, direct) and so forth it allows me to change the mood.