If I were you, I'd take another crack at a few with the opposite approach--hide the safety gear but otherwise show the amateur costumes honestly, bad lighting, flaws and all. It would deliver a much deeper version of the empowerment message you're going for in the text of your post.

Seeing a super-hero in a dangerous position is not really impactful--that's what superheros do.

Seeing a regular person who is trying to look like a superhero (but subtly failing) in a dangerous situation tells all sorts of stories about the roles we each imagine and hope for ourselves--and the fronts we put up for other people.

I'd actually love another go to create these images all over again. If I can find another rooftop, I would definitely give it a second shot. Thanks for the feedback!

A reshoot sounds cool too, but I meant go back to the original RAW files and process them differently.

Yeah, the raw photos are more intense for me.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/bqtxeldmqiacm9y/AACk0lp0tl9ncGvzl... <- wow!!

All are awesome though, great work.

Oh my. Yes, the raw untouched photos - with all safety equipment showing - activate a completely different part of my brain. Now I know these are real people, really leaning over the edge of a skyscraper.

It was a bit like seeing the Mission Impossible movie and admiring the great CGI that made it look like Tom Cruise was swinging from a rope off the side of the Burj Khalifa, and then seeing the "making of" video and realizing he was swinging from that rope.

Here's the "making of" video. Holy crap, he's insane. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16BFrEBZQS4

And after a hard day of movie making, what better way to relax than to sit barefoot on the spire that tops the building!

http://www.tomcruise.com/blog/2013/06/13/tom-cruise-sitting-...

I can't say I've ever been a real Tom Cruise fan, but man, I have to admire his guts.

There was actually a lot of tricky paint getting the safety wires out of the reflections at Imax resolution.

Holy crap, these are awesome.

Wow, yes – I think a lighter-touch on the post processing would be even more impressive.

Honestly, I feel the same way as stevecalifornia.

I figure, if you are going to process the image so heavily, why bother even using a real rooftop. These images don't look real. They are, so why shouldn't they?

You know what? And I say this with all respect: screw how s/he feels.

This is art. And it's not art of the kind where I decide to strip down to my underwear, decide to throw spaghetti and sauce at a large white canvas and say, "hey look at what I created".

What you've done is impressive and I'm willing to bet unlike anything anyone else commenting on this post has ever done.

It's cool. It's edgy. It's different.

Sure he's got an opinion, and that's fine. He likes RAW better than your final shots but so what? He might also like my spaghetti splattered canvas.

Your shit is cool--cool enough that you think it's worth showing and therefore, cool enough for you to be proud of it the way it is.

Great job!

They look like illustrations. I don't get it either.

I think they look great. I'm not a very good amateur photographer but I like the post-production.

Your selfie on the video looks amazing too.