good morning Jim, i like 'em both though i'm more partial to the one with len's flare, with the flare it highlights the darkened areas, course looking at the one maryjane leaf in there maybe you oughta leave the len's flair out, lol! either way it's a great render!:)*5

I thinkIi like the flare.. but I used to be undecided and now I'm not too sure.

I am not a big fan of lens flare, so I choose the second one. :-)

They both look great Jim, but I like the one with the flare a bit better

good demo ! fanatstic is the lower picture !!!

I like the second one best.. one thing : due to the lightings, the frame makes the feeling that the images ar not horizontally placed

They're both gorgeous, Jim. But I go for the one without the flare. You see more details then. Corrie

I like the flare one best, though both a lovely!

2 beauties Jim i prefer the bottom on but both are lovely

Both are beautiful,it is difficult to decide. The flare adds a unique sci-fi feel,without more earthly. Going without the flare,for my answer. Wonderful work as always Jim. Love and Hugs.

That's a trick question, they are both good...the thing with Flairs is whattype of effect you're trying to convey, like this one is a surface effect(flair on top layer, if you use layers and Blending FX and put the Flair on an underneath layer or even a seperate Blank BG (works best using Transparent overlays) it appears to shine Through from behind instead of On from the front. Peace BTW: I'm back to square 1 with J-Wildfire. I was playing with the Editor in it yesterday, I actually find it easier to use and understand than the one in Apo, think it's the layout of the UIF that does that than the program itself. Anyway I got a couple Params set up I wanted to Render and the Render setups I had worked so hard on with the previous 3 images will not work (out of memory errors) so I loaded the params of the image I had already Rendered with those settings and it worked fine....now they give me the same Memory errors, what the hell happened in 24 hours that now I can't render without running out of memory....got me Baffled

Brilliant idea. Nicely done. It is a trick question, similar to choosing lobster or scampi tails. They are both delicious in their own way. These days, because I am working on lighting on my own works, I would have to sat with the flare.

Both are very cool, but I love the top one

After much study, I choose the flared one. While it does lessen some of the detail, it adds a dramatic element that makes "figures" more interesting. Fantastic work in either case.!

I find both equally satisfying and understand your concerns about the glare taking away from the image itself...You do realize you can get a solar flair in Photoshop without using the one available right?..So as you can get the same results but without the glare or haze.Try using your paintbrush/"soft mechanical 500" or smaller depending on the size of glare you want and select "white" as your color and then reduce it to 50%(works best for me) opacity and place it in your scene where you need it and give that a whirl!.... Now as for the above...One would question the haze in this image being you are displaying Mary Jane and well...Usually from past experience after smoking a joint that some sort of "haze" usually follows...lol..(smiles)...

the one with the flare gives it something special imho.

Exellent.

I like the 2nd one as the flare just takes your eye off the rest of the image :o) Both are great though!!

Fantastic creation!!!!!

Splendid fractals!!!

I love both equally great, but I would like to suggest that flair to make something less dominant. If I would choose the second one, I would cut off a section on the right side of it, Jim. Good job you've done here. btw I understand what Juliette wrote, see this too. ;-)

the second

Both works are beautiful, but the second is more interesting! :)

I like them both, each has it's own feel.

the flare haha what do I know but like.

I like the one with flairs because of the added color. Often my images come up with a glaring white spot that I don't care for; however in your image I like it because it encourages the eyes to move around the image.

Lovely design and colors !!!Well done on both!

the flare diminishes the sharpness of the fractal no doubt, but both versions works for me

♥ Fantastic looking Artwork!

both are great pieces,adding lights in scenery did a lot for me,the flare to my own taste is an added detail to the scene ,now it is a matter of choosing wich details you prefer to show,my option would be the top