I am trying to get this lighting sorted , it has never been something i have got right and for years I have used lazy cheats to light scenes. the picture follows is a scene i am working on and will have lots of use once i get the lighting right. no figures in it yet . but what you see is just two lights. one for the moon and the other in a near a bucket of fire in the building. I still have to work out the far background and add more grave stones but I would like the lighting to look very spooky but only using the tools of poser 11. (i do not have money for lighting props) 

Superfly or Firefly rendering?  Actual lights or light-emitting objects?  

Nighttime scenes have a stark lighting contrast, which is challenging. You either concentrate on well-lit areas or the gloomy shadows.  For most lights, use an attenuation of Inverse Square to simulate real light drop-off with distance.  Their intensities should be too high because you want deep shadows for that gloomy, creepy vibe.

This is a Superfly render with one light source for the moon.  I had to change the material shaders for all the objects in the scene so they respond realistically to the light source.

It could use a slightly lower exposure to darken the scene even more.

thanks. I always use superfly I cannot stand waiting for renders thats why i gave up on daz and came home to poser lol 

Im just learning about the inverse square things, the annoying thing these days is i have to write everything down so things take ages. what i need is good lighting of my cast members while the scene still looks dark and gloomy. The good thing is once I get the lights right i dont have to change them anymore. 

If Superfly, have you considered using a HDRI with a nighttime sky for rendering?

If Superfly, have you considered using a HDRI with a nighttime sky for rendering?

Lighting can be tricky depending on the scene.  The fewer lights, the better so you may concentrate on the main aspects and mood of the scene.

In your case, use the Inverse Square attenuation and low intensity on some of your lights.  Background lighting spillover can be very distracting and take away from you point of interest.  You want to contribute to the eeriness.  Deep shadows surrounding your characters will help enhance the mood.  Spotlights, area lights, and point lights will help in this department.

The most important thing is to make sure the material shaders on your characters are not emitting ambient glow.  This is the reason I rework all my object shaders to be compatible to Superfly rendering.  I want all my materials to behave as realistically as possible.  

In your case, concentrate on the characters and foreground, and perform minimal changes to background objects.  You want good render for a comic page without going overboard for absolute details.

thank you for the advice. notes taken. 

Hm, you're on Poser 11 which is two versions behind...the earliest I used full HDRI on background was Poser 12 with this shader from Freestuff:
https://www.renderosity.com/freestuff/items/90149/background-shader

You definitely need some sort of dome or environment around your scene, right now I don't see anything. You may start by using EZDome (Poser 11 version) from here:

https://cobrablade.net/snarlygribbly/poser.html

Also, absolutely as hborre says, if you do comic style rendering, simplifying shaders by stripping out ambient glow and any Firefly 'cheats' will be equally important to how you light. In Superfly in general, less is more, especially one you introduce a dome or background HDRI to light the scene (this may or may not work for you as you're doing comic style). Experimentation is the key, but only change ONE variable at a time so you can track (this is crucial). Lots of test renders.

You can use HDRI directly on bakcground in Poser 11 with this product:

VB SuperShaders for Poser11 SuperFly Vol.2

Yes, but that costs money. OP stated they didn't have a budget for extra, so we're trying to help them to use what's available without spending.

I do have domes a few of them that came with things, but I don't have bight skies for them. 

Free HDRIs:

https://polyhaven.com/hdris

https://hdri-haven.com/category/night

I use these two sites all the time.

thank you for the help