On open ground at noon the sun is 7.2 to 9.1 times as strong as the fill light from the sky. It was 1.3 to 1.7, and a real clear day is 7 to 10. Shadows read deep and sunlit ground bright, with less milky fill. Dusk and night look as before.
That change left tree crowns in shade near-black. The light on them was right, and the picture was crushing it on the way to the screen. On open sunny views, crowns against the light read dark green instead of black, though still darker than in photographs.
A day the weather calls clear also draws a clear sky, deep blue with a few small clouds, where every clear day used to carry a pale veil of cloud. High granite is brighter as well. A rule meant for dark, frost-shattered crests had been turning bare high granite dark and lichen-green, and far granite walls had been darkened twice. On November 12 that made high slabs and domes read pale cream-tan instead of cool gray. Two days later the color of steep bare granite changed again: since November 14 cliff walls and outcrop slabs are a cool gray with dark water streaks.
Still off: the forest floor keeps more of the open sky’s fill than a real canopy lets through, and granite is still darker than the photographs, with mottling that reads as dirt.
