On patterns and shadows

This is one of those shots that is trivial with a modern camera (this was done with a Sony DSC-HX9v) but would had been a pain in the ass with an old-fashioned film camera. There is a diagonal shadow area on the bottom right quadrant. The camera correctly figured out the right exposure so both light and shadow sides show rich details. If you take this shot with a film camera and its auto exposure is not smart enough, you'll get either details on the light side and a dark area for the shadows, or detail on the shadow area and over saturated light area.