Post Work

I've been thinking about fractals and postwork. No, not whether it is sacrilegious to do or not, but what sort most of us do. We all seem to at least add our signature, but is there more we all do?

I often find that my images are just a little dull when I finish them, even though there may be lots of layers, shaders, textures and glows to make them come alive. I usually find that I have to tweak the contrast a little, resize with antialiasing, unsharp mask and add a signature, and sometimes a frame of sorts.

Merlin's Quest ( as generated, UF multiple layers)

Here is the difference. See how the first one is nice? ...but just nice.

The second one seems more exciting, more harmonious, more 'finished'.

Merlin's Quest (contrast balanced, USM and resize)

But is there more I could be doing to bring out the beauty? What are your favorite techniques in postwork? Help me out here, folks!

~Viv