I have a powerful rig, and I can run pretty much anything. I've tried all of the most popular lighting/shader mods and I just can't seem to find one that fits my tastes.

Some have been either too dark at night, light from fire and candles are white and not yellow. Too bright outside, etc.

I just want one that has realistic lighting and coloring of lighting, and realistic shaders that are not too dark. I want SSAO, and possibly FXAA. I've tried pretty much everything. I just need someone elses advice. Thanks in advance.

I personally went with http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=648 and a custom FXAA config I made, I wasn't going to put up with the low fps ENB mods enforced, nor the blueness of most lighting mods, but this seems to work quite well, as for SSAO, I guess the only way to get that is with ENB or force it in your display driver options.

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=7654

Pinkie Pie needs to lay off the damn CUPCAKES!

The Skyrim Enhanced Shaders Mod - http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=822

That particular mod can make a performance hit, and since Skyrim doesn't exactly run good on PC (Console Le port?!) depending what you run it may, or may NOT be the best choice. It still does make a big difference.

Realistic Skyrim V3 - http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=191

This mod does not give any performance loss. It may not be a sophisticated as Enhanced Shdaers. I am actually trying to choose if I want to use this, or...

Realistic Lighting with Customization - http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=7654

This mod does seem to have some issues. It's not always consistent indoors. It's really noticeable in Breezehome, jorrvaskr, and some other locations. This mod also gives no performance hit. It's also still in the works, I believe.

None, imo. They're either way too dark (especially for distant mountains, which turn dark grey) and gritty, or too saturated, or too bright or blue. Sometimes they look great, but other times they look really bad. I haven't found any mod that looks great at all times.
So far, I'd recommend using FXAA and tweaking it very slightly for your own preference.

I'm working on a weather mod so I'll create new weathers with carefully chosen settings for all types of weathers, with all new cloud textures, etc.
It will take a while though

Oh?! I want to see this mod when It's finished.

I have to use a Lighting/Shaders mod myself. I am stuck choosing between the two I mentioned.

The three I listed seem to be the best going. The 2nd one does a great job of not making dungeons TOO dark. You'll still need to use spells or a torch to really see (Which I prefer) and it just makes towns/villages and dungeons come to life with all the nice lighting going on.

as far as realism, out of all the mods I've tried, this has no competitors:

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=1875

using this I've pretty much learned to tell the time of day by lighting conditions. nights and dungeons are dark, but not exceedingly. subtle light changes during the day are spectacular.

@Lurk

This...

This is the best one in my opinion, gives perfect balance and the days are beautiful... watching the sun go down is so immersive.

Realistic Lightning from here http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=7654 is the best mod for lightning effects, the other one RCRN is kinda jerky, adds a .dll file and other stuff, can create bugs or slowdowns, use Realistic Lightning from my link, and with my personal config if you want http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=9258

author of this post says clearly that he don't want mods which gives him darkness and people still suggesting "realistic lighting without post-processing and similar" mods . Personally i can't find any mod either which could give me sunset similar to Realistic Lighting With Customization and without any darkness when raining,snowing,in interiors ,dungeons etc . there is simply to much bugs in all weather mods combine and others which are less complicated gives very little difference compared to original game .

@hlvr
looking forward to your mod

Yes, this is my favourite too, its fantastic. Also, no bugs or slowdowns, of course, unless your card can't handle it. 40-60FPS outdoors (and indoors) here with Skyrim HD, Vurts Flora, Ultra Settings, uGrids 7, Ambient Occlusion forced via Nvidia, Transparency AA and this mod runs fine. A tip though, reduce your AA to x2, you don't need any higher with this mod as it has a fantastic smooth AA of its own, but if you disable AA completely it doesn't seem to work properly, (so x2).

OP wants realistic without darkness ^^ "Kiff, we have a conundrum!"

wow RCRN looks really cool

Since Days I am uding realistic lighting and tweking it to death (+ enhanced shaders).. not fun anymore .. RCRN looks very good too.. but the nights are not dark enough for me somehow... and then i couldnt use the ambient occlusion I am getting thru the enhanced shaders (I got an ati... is there a way to activate AO without ENB)..

So, At the moment I am sticking with RL+Enhanced Shaders. I almost got where I wanted it to be.... RCRN has but incredible days amtmosphere... can′t decide and it′s slowly being a pain in the ass tweeking, making one zillions screenshots and comparing this both mods together...

As someone said, comparasion is the first step to be unhappy ^^ .. I almost wish I never had discovered mods.... I got atm like 25 hours in game and probably 50 tweaking...

I've been using RCRN, and it looks great!

glad you like it, it's the best one around, period. Author will be putting up an open beta on his homepage, it should last a week - with periodic additions - before final version 1.7 possibly on Sunday.
According to his comment on the nexus, the beta should be available in the next half hour.