Hi all,
I'm making an image to use as the background of a website...currently I've created the image, put it on a black background, and layed a gradient layer over top that masks the colors, to make it look dark and not draw the eye away from the website content. However, it still looks a bit "drawn", while i'd like to it look a bit more like a picture. I've attached a .jpg export but can provide the .svg. Any tips on how to make this a bit more "glossy" and phot-like would be appreciated.

-jss

Well first off, I had to copy the picture into GIMP and heavily adjust the levels before I could see anything

I don't really have any suggestions because I don't really know what it is. It kinda looks like tiles.

fair enough, i've re uploaded and taken away the darkness.

To get a more realistic effect you can try adding some imperfections, try using some filter to get texture on the tiles. Or roughen the edges to make them look more rustic (there's an effect for that).

If you want tiles to be smooth and shiny you can add blurred white lines along some of the tile edges - that's the light reflection.

I think you should definitely make the tiles more 3D, add bevel on the edges, here's an example



Maybe you just need to add an object or 2 that are white, blurred and with almost no opacity to fake matte light reflections, like here (there are areas of lighter and darker color)



I think I'd like the drawing better if the space between the tiles is bigger and not white, maybe light gray

Thanks for those tips. I have the weekend to work on this, so I think i'll go ahead and make a nice texture for the tiles in GIMP, and apply it to the tiles. some shadow and depth between the tiles would also be a good idea.
I'll post back with my results.

I uploaded a stone slab filter in OCAL. Here is the link http://openclipart.org/media/files/wsnaccad/10428 and sorry if the sample below is not a floor.



Hope you will be successful with your project