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**Three reflection regimes.** - **Specular (mirror-like)** — angle of incidence equals angle of reflection. Energy bounces in one direction only. - *Examples:* calm water surface, polished metal, wet pavement, glass. - **Lambertian (perfectly diffuse)** — energy reflects uniformly in all directions; brightness appears the same from every viewing angle. - *Natural example:* freshly fallen snow; matte dry sand; whitewashed walls. (No real surface is perfectly Lambertian — it's an ideal.) - **Regular / real surfaces** — somewhere between the two. Most natural surfaces are diffuse-dominated with a specular component; this is why sensor geometry (BRDF) matters for precise measurements.

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