happymat, here's a few tutorials that really helped me a lot.

https://www.cgarchitect.com/resources...3d/default.asp

https://www.itchy-animation.co.uk/light.htm

https://warpedspace.org/lightingT/part1.htm

Lots of good info in those tutorials. Slipknot66, I think what the other guys are saying is that inexperienced modelers fall back on HDRI's as a crutch. It's very easy to get a reasonable image with an HDRI, without making any adjustments, but on the other hand I think too many times people substitue HDRI's for actually thinking about the lighting (I know I used to do that). Too often you see a decent model with in-your-face reflections coming from some "outside" scene HDRI that a guy downloaded off a free site. It just ends up looking ugly. I am a huge fan of HDRI's though, when they are done correctly.

For instance, here's a link to my favorite website for what to aspire to reach as a product viz modeler. Now that's some fantastic HDRI rendering.

https://www.artvps.com/gallery/2/auto...ngineering.htm