Wow! You spent so much typing time to explain me this things thank you!
Unfortunately I've lost settings for this cool image above and i only have 1000 x 1000 pix render, and yes it's noisy as hell.
In last 30 minutes i've made a couple decent pics, one of them is this
and it struck me that Today when i made search by the word Fractals i saw something similar, and i did it second time and stunningly it is Your image that is looked so similar
I've just purchased some studio lighting, but I have not made a single good shot to put on stocks - and here comes a free applet which gives me a stockworthy images at no cost. The world is turned upside down
PS If this work proves profitable - sure i'll buy another computer, a stronger one, but why so long times? I've just started rendering this cute fir tree again at 2000 by 2500 pix , quality 400, and it says it is 10 minutes left. There must be some point that i miss.