Bar Scene

SomethingFishy

I've been working on this bar scene in Maya for a couple months and I'm now in the finishing stages.

I'm happy with the way it's turned out so far. The back wall looks a bit barren in the reflection. For some reason the bar wood is coming out blurry in the renders but I suspect that may have to do with the placement/angle of the camera.

Only thing that's bothering me is how dark the lower shelves are. I've tried working with global illumination but for some reason it's not working. I have it turned on in the render setting and the lights are set to emit photons and I've tried raising and lower the amount of photons and their intensity but it's still not showing in the renders. Any ideas?

And of course any and all critiques are appreciated! Thank you!

Cibo

The ice in the glass has no transparency, doesnt look like ice.
The brickswall looks very low quality.
The mirror is maybe okay but the brick reflection kills every interest, maybe windows with a street or a neon sign but the bricks are very plain.
Doesnt understand the shadow difference between bottle and glass. A invisible lightsource between them?

SomethingFishy

Thanks Cibo I'll definitely make those changes. As for the dominate shadows coming from the bottle and the glass, there is a lamp hanging above the glass.