The long forgotton door of an old Plymouth

Should I make it lighter? Anything else I could have done to make it

better?

This image is appealing as is. Very little I see that would improve this image. Nice work.

I agree. I don't think you need to do anything. Very cool almost abstract image.

What an excellent image! Very compelling and powerful. Terrific composition and extraordinary use of color. Images like this evoke a lot of nostalgia and one wonders how many and whose hands have pulled on that door handle.

 

Re post processing and your question: I do think there is a slight blue cast, which if you correct will bump up brightness a bit but overall it is not too dark. I also think you might experiment with correcting/neutralizing the blueish color spill on the chrome, making the upper half more neutral. I think it further strengthens the image but tastes do vary. In any event, attached is a quick example of what I mean.

 

Great shot, Mike. A pleasure to have a look at it.

To Patricia, I find it interesting that your before version is much bluer than the original,and the reds are much more intense--is there a color management issue on your end?? appears so--The color balance on the original looks fine on my screen and quite frankly much richer than the one that resulted in your photo--the blue is very accurate to what you would expect chrome to reflect. The presented color palette is very soft and pleasing and maintains a sense of place.

Very nice image. My only comment would be to correct the blue cast a bit as mentioned before and to try bumping up the local contrast. I just discovered this trick and it does wonders for images like this. Not only does it improve local contrast but it also makes the image appear more sharp. If you have Photoshop just apply an unsharp mask with a radius of about 60 and an amount from 10 to 20. You will have to play with this but it does make a difference.

Thanks so much for everyone's comments. I agree that what isn't red in the picture has a definite blue hue to it. I have to admit my method of white balance correction is rarely very scientific. I usually just go with what looks right at the time. This time that may not have worked :)

 

Also I should say that some of the softness was actually added, believe it or not. For whatever reason I tend to like softer (but not blurry) images better.

 

In any case I will try and sharpen it up and make some changes to the white balance based on your suggestions.

 

Again thanks so much for your comments! You don't know how much they help.

A beautiful compositon !