sp3ctr4l

The sun is fairly low in the sky, just a bit to the right of the guy on the dirt path, whose shadow is almost but not quite straight vertical.

The guy casts a darker and more crisp, or less diffuse shadow because he is less translucent, or more opaque, than tree leaves, and because the total distance from the heighest tree leaves to the ground is greater than the total distance from his head to the ground.

The lines of the tree trunk and lamppost shadows all converge toward where the sun is, if extended toward it.

The illuminated square in the one tree’s shadow is likely a reflection from a window or some kind of metal fixture from a building or object behind the pov of the camera.

Probably the tree is shadowing the same area that a window in or near the building the picture is being taken from is illuminating.

A lot of universities with large campus grounds take the approach of observing the natural foot traffic wear patterns on grassy areas, and then build walkways where the most worn down parts are.

Its… pretty obvious.

If everyone is taking an alternate, non designed path… your design sucks, modify it to facilitate what people find more effective.