ahaa point lights, i've tried to achieve what your saying but with ambient lights (1 either side and 1 in front of plinth) but they kinda washed the scene of color a little too much so i knocked their intensity down to 0.01 each! which made it a little pointless having 'em, they just kinda tweeked the gamma up a little, so i'll drop 'em completely now and try some point lighting, cheers peeps