Hi all,
Could any one tell me why the second render (taken after UV mapping for the board) is soo much lighter than the first early render?
I think it may be something to do with me trying to change the background…
Thanks,
looks like it is over-lit, and before UV mapping the materials are absorbing the light, but in the second, the photo of the chessboard, your UV Image, is reflecting it all…? try turning down the lights.
Thankyou but even this the lights off it comes out bleached 
If it helps i can make the file avalible…
I think it may be something to do with me trying to change the background…
Did you turn on ambient color? In the World Subcontext, in the World Panel, make sure that the sliders called AmbR:, AmbG, AmbB, are set to zero (black).
could be your exposure or ambient coloring. maybe you accidentally changed the ambient color instead of the world color.
Thankyou it was the Ambient Colouring 
Ta