strange shadows

[max montana]

hi there,
i work on this project and am curious why the shadows on same materials differ so much in a short distance. the shadow on the floor of the left balcony is much darker than the one on the right balcony. also the reflection of the shaded areas of the left balcony in the window glass seems to be too dark.
vraysun/sky + vray phys. cam, glass material in windows (diffuse-black, falloff map in reflection, 0,0,192 gray in refraction)

[Dynedain]

Because the left balcony has a tan wall and the right balcony has a light beige wall.

Lighter colors reflect more light than darker colors.

[max montana]

but why is the reflection of the concrete columns in the windows of the left balcony so much darker then that one on the right balcony? and why ist the refl. of shaded step that dark? does it depend on the glass material?

[stevesideas]

If you take a look at your picture, the entire left set of windows are in shadow, whereas the right ones you are comparing them to are not. Obviously when glass and the objects surrounding it are in shadow the reflection will be more prominent and the shadows reflected will be darker.

If you are looking for consistency in shadows and reflections you need to reposition your sun.

Also, have you done a photoshop eyedropped on your shadows colours. To me they look the same. I think you may be experiencing that optical illusion where if you have a black to white gradient going from left to right and then place a small 128 gray filled circle each side of the gradient, the gray colours look different...but they are not.