Well technically its neither. It may seem like a visual bug, but you need to remember that the shadow is lower (on the ground) than the beam thats in the air, so due to perspective the shadow will seem shorter.
......................................................................................camera
...................................................................................../
.................................................................................../
------------------------------------------------------beam------------------------------
--------------------------------------shadow--------------------------------------
ok for some reason it puts the camera part at the beginning of each line... so its supposed to be at the end of the diagram, and pointing to the end of the beam to illustrate show why the shadow would look shorter.