I recently did two maps of Northern Schoharie County’s Median Household Income. I did one with hillshade exaggeration set to 5x while the other one was the normal 1x that I use on both maps. I am divided on which is the prettier map.

Moderate Hillshade

More Extreme Hillshade

I kind of like both maps, but I think the more extreme hillshade is distracting. On the other hand, the more extreme hillshade does bring out the terrain better, and make it easier to perceive the edge of each census blockgroup.

This may be terrain dependent. In a flatter part of the state, such as along Lake Ontario, it may make more sense to increase the amount of hillshade to better capture some of the details of the landscape.