A lot of people use filters with their photos; but I find that by just playing around with the contrast, sharpness, hue and one or two other factors, you can transform your photos into something fairly pleasing. I think I may have overdone the sharpness (that's what gives the image a textured, painterly effect) a little bit, but I like the way it turns the scene into something slightly other-worldly.
Here's what the original image looked like:
Notice it's quite blurry, there's a fair amount of noise because of low light levels and the framing is a little lose. I tightened the final image up with a crop, then applied affects in the image editor. Let me know what you think? Also, what are your top image editing tricks?
