Well I played around a bit more, and also played a bit with levels etc. Still not getting very dark shadows from the balcony rails, and it is done with real geometry, not trans maps to throw shadows out, and not much ambience on the marble. @ Madmax The download doesn't give me a file that I can open on my PC, which is a shame because I like your lighting setups.

The greatest part of wisdom is learning to develop  the ineffable genius of extracting the "neither here nor there" out of any situation...."