Critique Requested - Dark Dramatic Photo

[pyzik]

Looking for some advice/critique on this one. On one of my monitors is looks awesome (to me) and on the other it's too dark.

What was done:
I boosted the color a bit to bring out the paint on the concrete.
Boosted contrast.
I also added some shading to narrow the light on the rifle.
Sharpened the image a tad.

Thanks for any input!!


BCM with Samson Evo 9ex by pyzik200, on Flickr


Original photo:

DSC_0094 by pyzik200, on Flickr

 

[tirediron]

I see where you were going here, but I'm not 100% sure it works. A couple of thoughts: Put a couple of cuts of ND gel and maybe a light CTO to turn the flashlight beam from bright blue-white to a duller yellow/orange, and light the whole thing more evenly from overhead, or along the axis of the weapon and eliminate the bright spot in the lower right.

 

[HitenNainaney]

I'll choose the top one, since i like higher contrasts and sharpness.

However, The shoulder rest (if thats what it is called) is fading into darkness, i'd try to brighten that a bit so that the gun stands out a bit more from the top edge.

Also, clone out the little pebble in the top-left of the frame, its distracting.

Hope this helps

 

[pyzik]

I see where you were going here, but I'm not 100% sure it works. A couple of thoughts: Put a couple of cuts of ND gel and maybe a light CTO to turn the flashlight beam from bright blue-white to a duller yellow/orange, and light the whole thing more evenly from overhead, or along the axis of the weapon and eliminate the bright spot in the lower right.

Thanks for the tip on color, I thought it should have been more of an amber color as well. I don't have a slave flash just yet, this was taken in a dark garage with a window shedding light in.

I'll choose the top one, since i like higher contrasts and sharpness.

However, The shoulder rest (if thats what it is called) is fading into darkness, i'd try to brighten that a bit so that the gun stands out a bit more from the top edge.

Also, clone out the little pebble in the top-left of the frame, its distracting.

Hope this helps

It's a stock, but close enough (it does go to your shoulder). I didn't even notice that darn pebble until after I had uploaded it. Thanks for reminding me, I do need to get it out of there.