Composite critique - nuclear explosion

[petersweden]

Hi

I am working on a composite of an athlete. Any ideas on how to improve it are much appreciated.

Thanks

Peter

[petersweden]

Here is the file, for some reason it didn't get attached in my previous post.

[skoobey]

SYMMETRY

His body needs more of it. Try to reduce that highlight on the right part of his chest.

Background directly above him needs less of it.

Hope that helps somewhat.

[Repairman]

Avoid the blurring on the mushroom cloud edge; it's out of step with the rest!

[Chain]

I would also remove the shining star/flare in the middle of the clouds. It doesn't belong there.

Here me doing some quick adjustments:
* A bit more shine on the right part of his chest (his right, my left).
* Glow on the highlights (merged copy, radial blurx2, linear dodge blending mode, Blend If-sliders to limit it to highlights, high opacity).
* Make clouds less symmetrical (I used healing brush).
* Slight Local contrast increase (low strength, large radius sharpen)
* Sharpen (high strength, low radius) - destroyed a bit by the JPEG-compression. Settings would depend on your original size and the intended use.

[petersweden]

Originally Posted by Chain

I would also remove the shining star/flare in the middle of the clouds. It doesn't belong there.

Here me doing some quick adjustments:
* A bit more shine on the right part of his chest (his right, my left).
* Glow on the highlights (merged copy, radial blurx2, linear dodge blending mode, Blend If-sliders to limit it to highlights, high opacity).
* Make clouds less symmetrical (I used healing brush).
* Slight Local contrast increase (low strength, large radius sharpen)
* Sharpen (high strength, low radius) - destroyed a bit by the JPEG-compression. Settings would depend on your original size and the intended use.

Thanks - quite an improvement! I didnt quite get how you did the local contrast increase? Unsharp mask?

[Chain]

Originally Posted by petersweden

Thanks - quite an improvement! I didnt quite get how you did the local contrast increase? Unsharp mask?

Yeah, I just did it the simple way and used Unsharp mask.