BLUE said

thats why this place is so good...ya get tomake your own mind up.
Scion said i had to let him make up my mind

OOOHHH THE LIES.
SORRY guys just had to get in the thread. I get excited when we have two people actually having a intellegent dicussion with out fighting.
NOT that it matters any or in any way contributes to the wonderfullness of this forum post. If a chop gives me that DAAAAAAAMMNNNNN effect, that makes me want to look even closer at the details. The same effect you got when you saw TATA's for the first time. They are really nice from across the room, but get them up close in ya face and BAM that DAAAAAAAMMNNNNN effect takes over. How you achieved it is not important to me.
All source is wonderful. Many here are great at all source, some are beyond great like micose, reggie and a few others that really have more talent in thier little finger than i in my whole body.
Now in life they will more than likely have a major effect on the art world as computer artist, as well as natural artist. Their style and effort are considerations in voting for sure, as they should be.
IF however the chop that catches my eye as the best has been done in 10milliseconds or over the last 3 years. With no filters or with nothing but filters, matters little. After all the finished product is what will be the major factor. Here or the real world, although here you do get more consideration for your effert, than if a company is buying a logo.
So as much as i adore the talent and effort in creating lightning, smoke, fire and so on. If a filter was used or not in the very end is a factor in the final judgement, but the better is better period.
Besides if you used photoshop to open the photo. You used a filter of some sort. Texture, brush flow, or even the save for web is all achieved with a FILTER in loose terms.