how do i make this look real

[egosbar]

the front of the concrete is bugging me , anyone know how i can make it look like the concrete is raised more and the sand comes under a bit

its a picture of my work we just put the skillion roof on today so i want to send it to my boss to show we appreciate him spending the money

still got work to do ie shade the posts etc

 

[smoke]

Shadows are missing.
used only black soft brush in different opacities over mask

to see what's been done:

 

[hawkeye]

If it was real, the colors in the sunset would be reflected in the building and the truck.

 

[hawkeye]

More like this perhaps.

 

[egosbar]

yes both good suggestions ill play with it later , its only an early project , but its good practice to be self critical and not accept mediocracy , ive only been photoshopping about two months but im getting there , that only took me an hour or so , starting to get quicker

 

[egosbar]

wouldnt the shadow on the post follow the shadow from the corner of the building ? or is that a perspective thing as it just doesnt look quite right , in saying that im sure you didnt spend a lot of time on it

 

[chrisix]

I agree, the perspective of the two images isn't the same.
you either need to change the perspective of the background image, or find a different one.
you can play around the the shades as much as you want, wrong perspective will never look real.

 

[hawkeye]

wouldnt the shadow on the post follow the shadow from the corner of the building ? or is that a perspective thing as it just doesnt look quite right , in saying that im sure you didnt spend a lot of time on it

Quite correct. I just did it quickly as an example and didn't take the time.

 

[gitmon]

And don't forget to fix the columns, they look obviously cut around.

 

[ibclare]

Yes, now that I look more closely, it does look as if the water is about to flow right over you. Below sealevel there egosbar, lol. Just straighten those out with transform>perspective or, as I prefer for better control, hold ctl/cmd and shift the corners of the transform box.