I'm pretty sure GIMP is a more powerful program - I once had both it and paint.net. That said I never delved too deep into it - paint.net is more of a beginner's program, I think. it's easier to use with a less complex layout. But I am fairly certain that an expert with GIMP will be able to do more.

Guess I better finish this thing and take it out of the workshop. Hopefully tonight. But I think I promised someone build feedback - I'll get to that first.

Dear Mr. Ragin Cajun,

You do not want to know how much work went into this first image. I'll admit, I'm still not that happy with it. Very hard to get the contrast on the face correct.

On the other hand, that second image is a godsend and you can expect to see it when I touch on Levels and Curves in a separate guide (if I ever get around to that separate guide). I'm not actually certain I like the finished product - it's remarkably non-orange, for a sunset - but it's quite pretty so that's good enough for me right now.

Here are the tweaked images.

I expect to have this out of the workshop... tomorrow? Yeah, let's go with that, tomorrow.

Dragged this out of the workshop - it is now found here in the Art Group. I'll... leave this up a few days, I guess.