Do fractal-artists actually know which modification effects what in MB3D ?How..?

[psYnfinite]

How do fractal-artists actually get these amazing images done - I doubt they are done by just random exploring. 
I watched some of these amazing tutorials to get started with Mandelbulb3D and I now know how to use the basic functions, but I'm just randomly floating around without much plan. So how do you get these amazing images ? Do people actually know what each formula effects and then intendingly set up a great picture ? If so what's the best way to learn that ? There are really many formulas and parameters for each of those...

[vinz]

i'm not very familiar yet with m3d, more with apophysis ... and i think  in the same way,
by using some variations again an again you know how they look like and what is their action, and what parameters do. Finaly you have more control over what you want to achieve.
but obviously there is always a place for random and luck in the formula exploration.
but as there are some step to achieve a kind of result you can start in place where everything is known ( or by a template ) or restart from scratch.

finally i think it's a good balance between software knowledge and luck
here my thoughts.