For the 5-light setup I start each with: white light, 20% intensity (as 5x 20% = 100%), corners 0-160 as in "flaps open", specularity OFF (Mat Room) when you don't want the reflections, shadows OFF if you just need the light or: raytraced shadows at blur radius 20 and shadow samples 200, and no ambient occlusion when rendering in IDL.

Then I continue playing with falloff-types, falloff distances and intensity levels as real photographers are playing with their light knobs and meters.

Check my cameray/light/render tutorial starting at http://www.book.artbeeweb.nl/?p=3065

have fun.

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Usually I'm wrong. But to be effective and efficient, I don't need to be correct or accurate.

visit www.aRtBeeWeb.nl (works) or Missing Manuals (tutorials & reviews) - both need an update though