Suit of Armour

[HermitsLife]

I visited the Royal Armouries in Leeds this morning doing my best to get some photographs of some of the exhibits. however I was really struggling to get some good captures due to reflections on the glass cases they were in. this is one of the images I took which had less reflection problems, most of them were on areas other than the Armour so I decided to mask them out, there are some reflections from the glass still present on the armour but due to where they are, they look more like reflections on the metal.

What I have done processing wise was the create a black layer and then added a layer mask to reveal the armour, I then added a curves layer to increase the brightness of the armour and also a Hue and saturation layer which I used to decrease the saturation on the armour to a more natural silver rather than the original blue tinge it had taken on. Whilst I like this image, in fact I more than like it I am not 100% certain that it works fully. Is there anything I could improve in the processing?


Suit of Armour 001 by Hermitslife, on Flickr

Camera Info:

Camera: Nikon D40
Date & Time: 27th January 2012 11:29
Lens: Nikon AF-S DX 35mm f1.8G
Focal Length: 35mm
Exposure Program: Aperture-Priority AE
Exposure Time: 1/20
F Number: 1.8
ISO: 800
Flash: Didn't Fire
Subject Distance: 2.51m

[HermitsLife]

I've gone back to the image and re done the masking on the background with a little more care also brightened the Armour a touch more as well. Subtle changes from the previous but I think they do improve the overall image.


Suit of Armour 001a by Hermitslife, on Flickr

I really would appreciate any constructive criticism of this image, or indeed the settings I used when I took the shot. I am pretty new to photography and only beginning to try take a more serious approach.