Hello Neyjour... Thanks for the advices!

Here is a modified version, with my "progress-report" to follow:
Click image for larger version.  Name: Ambush site.png  Views: 182  Size: 2.07 MB  ID: 53327



Yep, I have used a technique quite similar to the one you describe before (for example in my "Golden Elk" map).
It works best if you want your illumination to be almost vertical, but; in this case, I was looking for longer shadows, mostly because I thought my sign post looked crummy and felt the longer shadows were needed to help give the impression of a taller structure...
Still, the example you gave looks really nice... so I tried compromising... I might have blurred it a little bit too much, however, and might revisit this particular layer...

The gravel texture I used did not like being reduced that much. At that point, a very clear tilling effect was quite evident. So I ended up using a different texture. It came with a bit of problem on its own (once reduced; it was not longer tillable, but I fix it reasonably well, I think). Now the only problem I have is that the road appears... under the grass... I made sense before, but now it kinda feel wrong... I might have to revisit that too (I will just use the clone tool to remove the stones that are half-covered by the grass, it should do the trick...).

As for the stones, well, for some of them, the only version I had was as blurry as you see it so I had to change several of them but this was pretty straightforward...

While I was at it, I changed the puddles on the road so that they would sneak between the stones, which make more sense, and redid the spear lining on the stone and its shadow... I am quite unreasonably proud of this shadow!




Anyway, thanks again for the advices, that's why I like this forum so much, it really helps me a lot...

Ps- The grass texture on your example is really pretty, do you remember where you found it?