Trials and Questions

I have been trying a demo piece of software, a filter for photoshop and I am feeling a lot of conflict over using it. My puritan part says cheating, my efficient part say this is faster and 'I" am still in a muddle. I don't like my photos to look to processed, to saturated, to pretty. I am wanting something else from them. Some sort of truth, of spareness, where the technical side is not apparent, it just is. It supports the work but is not the work. The tulips from the other day [link here] are my case in point. Have I crossed over the line, are they too pretty, sentimental or nostalgic even? Tenderness and sadness is fine, sentimental is not. I wonder what it is about that word that makes it such a no-no in my work. A friend was discussing this same concern last week, is it a concern for you? Does sentimental in art make you uncomfortable?

unfiltered tulip