As my first submission to the IRTC, this image forced me to learn a lot of new tricks with POVray, but there were a lot of things I had not figured out (like how a simple surface normal would have helped the ground appearance or how to do a better job on motion blur).
The idea behind the image is that most things in nature can be described mathematically, so I tried to show the numbers hiding behind certain things, like a falling leaf or the placement of leaves around a branch. All in all, I liked the shadows, but there are a number of problems with the image overall. Live and learn!
All rights to the above image are reserved by its creator, Aaron Gage.