Playing with a new style...maybe

Even though I have not been producing  much over the last few months, I have had time to re-look and mull over my artwork over the last few years. While I am not  'unhappy' with any of my work, I have questioned the quality of my lighting. In some of my imagery, I thought the lighting could be more dramatic, more Baroque, with the play of chiaroscuro more intense. Below left is one of my images (The Reluctant Hero). This image was composed  
  

and lit by my normal methodology, a single direct light source. While giving the effect of dramatic lighting, I felt there was something lacking in this and some other images that I have done. My initial idea, my hope, was to have an image that is dramatic visually and conceptually compelling. While the image may hold up conceptually, I was uneasy about the lighting not matching the strength of the composition. In the image above right, I have changed (in photoshop) the contrast and deepened the shadows. I have altered the colour palette to be cooler and less saturated. I also added more space around the figures. I am happier with the visual impact of the second image, the sense of drama with the figures emerging out of the blackness without being fully lit. Instead of every detail being shown, I am comfortable losing some of the image to the darkness allowing the viewers own imagination to fill the void.