Tone help needed

[5nap5hot]

How do I get this look?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stygian/4170644254/

There is such an amazing diffused tonal smoothness to this image! I am dying to find out how to get a similar result.

Anyone have any ideas?

Another example

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stygian/4170643984/

I have heard someone say it is split toning. I have googled the images for that and I don't really see it.

[MacBurg]

Split toning doesn't have anything to do with tonal smoothness, split toning is more to do with colour grading. The first image is simply a good shot out of camera then has good use of D&B applied to lighten, darken and smooth out transitions of tone.

The blacks in the image have been lifted more commonly known as "haze" so do a search here or over at MM for haze as there's loads of threads covering the different ways to achieve it. The quickest would be a solid colour layer with a rough colour of #428da6 set to "Exclusion" blending mode, this is a form of split toning.