I have an idea of adding "shadow_darkness" keyword into the light_source
block, for example:

light_source {
  <0,0,0>
  rgb 1
  shadow_darkness 0.5
}

It would be a factor of light amount which comes from this light source to
an object in shadow. Although I'm not familiar with POV source code I think
it should be relatively easy to implement. It is probably a matter of
multiplying light value by a fraction after the "object-light visibility
test" when it indicates that object is in shadow.
This keyword would be useful feature when shadows in a scene
are to dark or their geometric shape is too strong. Of course we could use
area light, shadowless light or radiosity but shadow darkness will allow to
control the shadows smoothly, without increasing rendering time too much (I
hope).
It may also be usefull to create some urealistic effects like shadows
brighter than surfaces not in shadow - assuming that negative values for
"shadow_darkness" will be translated to factor greater then 1.
What do you think about it?

Przemek

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