How to keep lights from washing out my bitmap boxes?

[alevinemi]

The room lights in my room are having an effect that I don't want.

Basically, the lights completely wash out the top half of some "pseudo-sculptures". These are actually just boxes with bitmap texture.

However, they don't wash out imported models, such as people. I have a screenshot shown, showing both the 3D view and the photo view.

Is there an easy way to fix this? Do I have to mess with the matte/shiny settings? Turn off the canned lights, insert custom lights, and alter the power?

Any guidance is appreciated - I am very new to this.

[Puybaret]

Insert custom lights and set their power.

[okh]

And maybe remove shininess by editing Box material (default box is 50% shiny)? ok

[alevinemi]

Many thanks - shoving those sliders all the way back to Matt did the trick. Even a little bit of shininess causes the effect, even under low light conditions.