There're two claims of fact (as opposed to just my opinion) in my comment: That layering multiple increasingly sized box-shadows in a line isn't more physically accurate than a single box-shadow, and that black is the most physically accurate color to blend with.
I'm quite confident of the first claim. You're contest of my second claim makes me think I was unclear. I don't suggest using black at 100% opacity as a shadow color. Instead, The shadow should be black with some fractional opacity, so that the background color is blended with black. The result of blending with black will not be pure black, but instead a good approximation of less intense light of the same color.
I also recognize that it's true that designers often use more saturated colors as the colors get darker, to good effect. But in the case of the shadows presented in the FA, I don't think it looks good, and whether it looks good or not, to claim it's inspired by physical realism is wrong.
I'm quite confident of the first claim. You're contest of my second claim makes me think I was unclear. I don't suggest using black at 100% opacity as a shadow color. Instead, The shadow should be black with some fractional opacity, so that the background color is blended with black. The result of blending with black will not be pure black, but instead a good approximation of less intense light of the same color.
I also recognize that it's true that designers often use more saturated colors as the colors get darker, to good effect. But in the case of the shadows presented in the FA, I don't think it looks good, and whether it looks good or not, to claim it's inspired by physical realism is wrong.