which direction to go

Did you contact Ri22o by PM for his settings and try them as wittaj suggested here ?
 
What distance is that?
Can you show a full size, full resolution image?

First blush I'd change exposure to 1/1000 and see what you get
 
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Yeah that is a big improvement!

Now if you want, try just minor adjustments, but also recognize we won't capture every plate.

I would try dropping sharpness to 45 and see if that helps the plate pop off the screen.
 
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