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Snip> when details like shadows falling in an opposite direction from where the sun is actually shining
It's interesting that you should pick that as an example as it perfectly demonstrates my point.
There is no sun shining on the stones at all. The sun was shining in the valley beyond as you can clearly see from the ground it is illuminating.
The light on the stones is all diffused light from the cloud cover.
Any perceived shadow irregularities are probably due to the undulating ground that any visitor to the site would quickly notice.
All the elements in the picture were there in the scene. There are some elements that were in the scene that are not in the picture. I make no apologies for that at all.
It seems to comfort some people to believe that a picture that exceeds thier expectations must be fake in some way but as I have said before "sometimes there is not a trick at all but it still looks like magic."
I'm not going to tell you how it is done, but I can tell you that you are looking in the wrong direction.
Something is not right. This message is just to keep things from messing up down the road