They are not a lot different to my eye. Do I split hairs and try to find a middle ground exposure, appeal one and reference the other (I tend to think that the first exposure is correct), or just move on? It's an equipment shot, so I have no problem with moving on.
Your problem is both. Find a way to a) bring up the darks around the trucks, see if there is more detail there, and b) get the sky a bit darker yet realistic. The brighter of the two shots looks better on the metal surfaces of the engine but below the frame it is still waaay dark. The slide may be limited in what it can offer.
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My RP pix are here.
My Flickr pix are here.
A little shadow and highlights like J said. A little dodging and burning will help some of those glow spots. I also reduced some red out of the black. Hope this is some help.
Exposure Quandry
Find a way to a) bring up the darks around the trucks, see if there is more detail there, and b) get the sky a bit darker yet realistic. The brighter of the two shots looks better on the metal surfaces of the engine but below the frame it is still waaay dark. The slide may be limited in what it can offer.
Linear Mode
