I didn't say it's HDR, that would be unrealistic for video and look like the first image with everything being adjusted regardless of where you're looking. Meaning if you looked at the sun it wouldn't even be bright. In RDR2, the ground is exposed how it would be exposed if you looked directly at it. The sky is exposed how it would be if you looked directly at it. Similar idea to HDR, but not quite there. End of story.

I don't know why I have to explain this. You are playing the character. But you are not looking through his eyes. This is made quite obvious by the fact that you can see him and it's not first person. Therefore, you shouldn't expect see what he sees. When he swims and you're looking down from above, are you seeing what he sees under water? No. As I tried to explain simply, you are viewing the environment from behind, as shown in the image above. Again, rockstar does not know if you, the consumer, are looking at the ground or the sky. So the sky is exposed is if you're looking there, and the ground is exposed as if you're looking there. Being critical that it's not more complicated is just silly.