After reading countless tutorials and using a range of other artists's settings, I realized that I still had no idea what the various Firefly options actually did. What I wanted most was a side-by-side comparison of exactly how each setting affects a finished render, and I couldn't find one anywhere, at least not in the kind of detail that I wanted. Since everyone's ideal settings are likely to be slightly different, I'm not going to suggest that you copy mine. What I am going to do is provide the detailed comparison that I wish I'd had.

Start With a "Control" Setting

To run my battery of tests, I threw together a very basic scene and started with lower settings:

Trying to up my 3D art game. Decided to throw myself into the deep end with a full blown fantasy action scene based on one of my battles in Shining Force II.

After being struck down just before my birthday by appendicitis (and subsequently spending my birthday in the hospital, recovering from emergency surgery), I decided to use the time productively. I'm still trying to redo all of my amateur old 2D manipulations and character mockups as proper 3D renders, so here's a much better portrait of Rafa from my worldbuilding project, Xilon.