Can you help me blend these?

ncjohn wrote in post #11516610
I see it in kitacanon's image but not in the one by kjonnnn. How does that relate to calibration? Wrong brightness/contrast?

If your screen crushes blacks, you may have been painting with a really dark gray thinking it was black, since you couldn't tell the difference in tones.

I had a background on my old crt monitor a couple years back, and looked pretty fine... until I calibrated the screen and it looked like crap, with posterization everywhere. If you're going to be doing photomanips, make sure you have everything color correct.

My contribution:

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It's present in both, just more subtle in the kjonnnn version. Regardless, the technique is sound once you match the blacks.

In kjonnnn's, is it a straight line across, as in kitacanon's, or does the difference show up in a free-form sort of "brush swirl"?
I see a difference clearly between the bottom of kjonnnn's top photo and the top of his bottom one but I just assumed that was because of the smoke.

An alternative is to download some free smoke brushes (Google) and add smoke to the flame you like.

That's awesome, who knew such a thing existed!

ncjohn wrote in post #11517620
In kjonnnn's, is it a straight line across, as in kitacanon's, or does the difference show up in a free-form sort of "brush swirl"?
I see a difference clearly between the bottom of kjonnnn's top photo and the top of his bottom one but I just assumed that was because of the smoke.

Screenshot of kjonnnn's second image, with my MBP profile embedded. Might show it more clear (depending on browser used):

René Damkot wrote in post #11521632
Screenshot of kjonnnn's second image, with my MBP profile embedded. Might show it more clear (depending on browser used):

A levels layer in screen mode makes it clear: