Attached Link: http://www.digitalfilmtools.com/html/light_.html

Slightly OT but I just bought this plugin for photoshop, that is excellent for Postwork light effects.

Did a v-quick render to show, here's the original render...

Here's the template; a 'venetian blinds' preset (it can use any B/W image)

And the result (1 minute - total). Obviosly the more time spent the better. No layers or selections used BTW.

And here, you can see the displacement of the blinds on the image...

PS: I'm not selling this or anything, but it makes postwork ahell of a lot quicker for me!

Attached Link: http://www.chip.de/downloads/c_downloads_8833737.html?tid1=9232&tid2=16432

Great looking effect. I'm a huge fan of photoshop filters and recently got the freeware L'amico Perry filter called Luce (which is Italian for "light", pronounced "LOO-chay"). I couldn't find a US site now, but did find one in Germany hosting on the attached link. For doing cool looking nighttime scenes or for Ray Traced underwater scenes "Luce" can save you hours of 3D computer processing time if you tried to do the same thing in Bryce or Vue using Volumetric Lighting.

Attached Link: http://www.panoguide.com/software/

I've also gotten very cool special effects using various Panorama software. Photoshop CS now comes with built-in Panorama effects- but I have had even better results from PanaVue Image Assembler and ArcSoft Panorama Maker. Why use this software when many 3D programs have a Panorama feature? Because you can combine wide-angle views and get stunning visual lense effects that are impossible in all current 3D programs that simply make a "panorama". Sort of like a Fisheye lense but without the distortion, or a scene that closely approximates real human eye vision for a "you are there effect"- not the same thing as a regular Panorama.

WOW!!! I just tried Luce. INCREDIBLE is all I can say. I have a few darkish renders in my folders and I just had a play with a couple. Huge improvements and beautiful effects. I'll be posting some revised older works soon I reckon. Thanks for the link Veritas. I'll get huge mileage out of this.

And another site for Luce (where I found it was easier to download as page is in English) http://members.xoom.virgilio.it/Perry/luce/main.html

Don't use Luce with selections! It caused a program error with me (everytime with CS) and had to restart.

My preferred plug ins are from www.thepluginsite.com Focalblade does an incredible job when it comes to sharpening, blurring, deblurring, soft-focus etc. To do the same in Photoshop (using edge masks that can be changed whilst working etc) would require much more time. Colorwasher is superb for enhancing colors, adding contrast etc. Both come with a very good manual, are very easy to use (most of the time the algorithms do a better job in manual mode that an experienced user can obtain in much more time. Only real seasoned pro's can do better. What I like about them is that all tools are on one (two for the two plugins) interface. Thanks for the info on Luce. I'll certainly try it out.

Attached Link: http://www.reiji.net/iris-e/index.html

IrisFilter 2.8w is an expensive plug-in at $190, but certainly is impressive! As a photographer I have loved getting these effects using a telephoto lense and slightly de-focusing on distant water or city lights to get this kind of look. It would probably be mostly useful to someone who is rendering 3D scenes- like Vicky fashion models, and wants to achieve a professional photography session effect. It would certainly pay for itself if you have a market for stuff like this.

Forgot to mention that there is a free "Try-Out" version available also- so at least you can test it out on your own images before buying it.