The fire one is actually valid, since it's creating species perfectly naturally (that's what fire does). I'd agree that without at least a minor breakthrough, the creation of light plain and simple won't work. But I'd also be prepared to say that it depends on what the target is too. Duration ring, target individual simply creates an individual of fire that lasts as long as the ring does. A steel ring and a relatively weak fire means you've got ring shaped source of the fire, but it spreads as a mundane fire would, and creates light in the same way.
I'm pretty sure in the core rulebook it mentions that species aren't affected by magic resistance, being perfectly natural.