I'm interested to know about others' views about post-processing their fractal imagery in graphics programs, to try and achieve the artistic effects they want. (By post-processing, I'm referring to the process that takes place after an image has been created in a single fractal-generating program, such as tierazon, ultra fractal etc, and not to the more controversial topic of what constitutes pure / impure fractal imagery blah blah blah.) A few things have put me off it in the past: 1) I had no clue either what it was or how to do it in my early days of experimenting with fractal software! 2) Somehow there was always this huge bone of contention too on the newsgroups and mailing lists about p-p, and whether or not it was something "acceptable". I was scared at that newbie stage of stepping out of line! 3) One of the things I really like about creating fractal images is the reproducability of it; ie an image can be created in UF (for example) at 640x480 on screen, rendered are 800x600 suitable for displaying on the web, saved as a simple text file, and at a later date exactly reproduced at, say 80cm x 60cm, burned onto CD, printed, sold, framed and hung on the wall. Is it possible to achieve the same reproducability with a small image that has been p-p'd in paint shop pro or photoshop? Or that is a combination of a fractal and a photo? I have experimented a bit recently with post-processing smaller images using filters in PSPro, but would feel very daunted by the prospect of dong the same thing on image that was 8000 x 6000 pixels - in fact I think my computer would be in danger of exploding if I tried! Does anyone else have these same dilemmas, and are there techniques that others have found to circumvent them?

aartika! fractal art by Tina Oloyede :  http://www.aartika.co.uk