> why do maps get so washed out in pov?

As others have said, it is due to the gamma.  Basically, POV works 
internally in linear colour space, then applies gamma correction to the 
output before you see it.  The problem is that POV treats image maps as 
being in linear colour space, but usually they are not.

To fix this, you need to adjust the gamma of your input image map to 
compensate in an image editor, usually by a factor of 2.4 (can be either 2.4 
or 1/2.4 depending on your program, but you must make the image look 
darker).

It would be really helpful if POV had a gamma keyword inside the image map 
function, where you could specify if the input image has a non-unity gamma 
correction already applied, then POV could undo that before feeding it into 
the rendering algorithm.

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