... though HDRI is a bit of a mystery to me at the mo, need to read up on the excellent tuts we have on this site
You’re doing fine, Anne. Image Based Light (IBL), for which you need a High Dynamic Range Image (HDRI) is one of the simplest schemes to light a scene, particularly if you want to render with natural light as the movie industry does. You’ll get the hang of it in no time. Just don’t shy away from the fancy names.
