Have you seen the film The Lighthouse? It has dark, sombre images of sea birds featured in it, and they've got rich blacks, bright whites, and a lot of contrast. I feel like images like this could be improved by following cinematography principles from films like that.
Just be warned, if you decide to watch it, its a very strange and dark (thematically) film indeed!
I am inyerested @holoz0r thanks for this evening's plan :) sounds like a good advise. Thank you 👍