Gabe remember your basic photography, The human eye is trained to read an image from left to right Dark to light. With that huge black void behind the character on the extreme right hand side of the image. The lighter area to the left of the figure (the slats or steps) was competeing for attention with the rest of the scene. By bring up and opening the shadows, Not lightening the entire frame. And getting rid of the huge black void. The character now is the focus of attention and not other elements in the scene. Also the skin tones are less orange and more natural. I added faint light rays streaming in over the characters shoulder so there is a indication of light coming in from that direction. If you were to photograph the scene, The highlight only from the characters shoulder would not be enough to force a underexposure to that extent for the rest of the scene. In order to get the detail on the face you would have to meter for the light in the shadows of the scene and would end up with totally overexposed highlights in the shoulders and washout of all detail in the arm. So the first image left you and others with the feeling that it was not quite right. You did not have overexposed highlights yet still had light enough to make out the downtruned face. That coupled with many totally black areas contributed to it. Are you trying to highlight your textureing and modeling skills or trying to create a good total image? You need to decide. If you are trying to do both then this may not be the image to do that with. As very dark and highly contrasty images tend to not be freindly to both objectives. The altered image is not as gloomy nor is it focusing strictly on your texturing skills. But as a image depicting a scene and a emotion it works rather well. If your intent was to have the viewer focus on the mans arm and not the pose or the scene, then I was completely offbase with the adjustment. Any way it was the easiest way for me to get my suggestions across.