“Trick Photography and Special Effects” Review

Posted by admin on January 28, 2012 No comments

“Trick Photography and Special Effects” Review

Ever wonder how to stop a bullet? Or how would you like to leave a trail of fire behind a speeding car?

You might not be able to do those things in real life, but with Evan Sharboneau’s book “Trick Photography and Special Effects” in hand, you’ll be able to not only see how these special effects in photography are done, but you’ll have the step-by-step instructions at your fingertips to follow along and create these special camera effects yourself!

By the way, this is a photo ebook review. To visit the Trick Photography and Special Effects website, click here.

Now to get right down to brass tacks (does anyone still use that phrase?!) here are some of the things you’ll find in this photo special effects ebook.

Trick Photography Special Effects 2.0: What You’ll Find

The current book is the second edition and it’s got nearly 300 packed pages. Evan has written the book in such as way that you can really just check the table of contents for a topic you’re interested in and then go right to it. You really don’t have to read the entire book.

However, there is value in starting at the beginning of this special effects in photography ebook because it starts at a more basic level and get’s progressively more sophisticated as you go along. The advanced techniques build on material learned earlier.

He starts off talking about basic equipment and advises that if you’re just starting out to use pretty basic stuff until you know for sure you want and need added features. That includes the camera, lenses and tripod.

He also talks briefly about Photoshop and which of the three packages to get.

From there he’s starts into the meat of the book, the trick photography and special effects.

Now as photo ebooks go, this one is laid out in an extremely easy to follow format. The table of contents has three main sections: Long Exposure Effects and Light Painting, followed by Trick Photography and Special Effects, and then the final section, Photoshop Projects.

To visit the Trick Photography and Special Effects website, click here.

What Photo Special Effects Do You Want To Create?

Within each section the headings make it very clear exactly what topics are covered. So whether you’re fairly new at this and want a good explanation of ISO or setting the white balance, or you’re ready to tackle some more complicated projects such as HDR (High Dynamic Range) shots or 360 X 180 panoramas, you’ll get very detailed explanations and instructions on these and dozens of other topics and projects. These are camera special effects.

The section on Photoshop projects is a gem. Starting with a detailed explanation of layer masks and moving on from there. And I gotta admit that, before I read Evan’s instructions, layer masks confused the heck out of me. But following along step by step really cleared this up for me.

Of course layer masks are an integral part of creating photo special effects so learning how to properly use them is critical. Not only does the text offer easy to follow and detailed explanations, there are dozens and dozens of photos, some final versions showing the outcome, but also lots showing the different stages of setting up your special effects.

Added Bonus: Over 50 Instructional Videos

As if the nearly 300 pages in the special effects book wasn’t enough, you’ll also have access to over 50 instructional videos. In these Evan demonstrates many of the techniques covered in the book. In fact the video library is sectioned off in the same three headings as the book. Some projects in the book are shown in video format, plus there are many videos that cover additional material.

So, depending on your learning style, you may even get more value from the videos! In reality I honestly believe the videos alone are worth more than the price you’ll pay for the entire package.

The videos are all recorded in HD, so they are big files and, depending on your connection speed, may take some time to load. I live in a rural area so my connection is not as fast as what I had in the city, so I notice the slower load times. That being said, it’s worth the wait (just let them load while you’re doing something else) because they are in HD so you can make them full screen and still have excellent quality.

In the videos Evan will go into great detail, demonstrating some trick photography or special effect technique, and then show a screen where he lists everything so you really don’t need to take notes (maybe just a screen capture to remind yourself!).

Would I Recommend This Book?

Obviously, from everything I’ve written here, I think this book and video library offer exceptional value. In fact I think it’s pretty rare to come across something that offers this much for so little.

Whether you’re just starting out in photography and are looking for a special effects book to get you started, or you’re a serious amateur looking to expand your repertoire, or you’re a professional looking for a specific technique or to expand y our knowledge of special effects in photography, I’m pretty confident that anyone with an interest in trick photography and special effects will benefit from this book and video library.

So yes, I consider this a definite must buy!

To visit the Trick Photography and Special Effects website, click here.

Get the Flash Player to see this content.

Photo Special Effects and the News

Posted by admin on January 28, 2012 No comments

As an amateur photographer, and being very aware of how easy it is to manipulate photographs these days, I often wonder about the reality of what we see in the news. Especially in print media – newspapers and magazines – and also in electronic media.

I think there’s a sense by the general public that what they see in the media is real.

And of course nothing could be further from the truth! At least, what we see should not be taken at face value.

Manipulating the “Truth”

“A photograph is the truth” is a quote I heard on The Best of Photojournalism website.

It’s an interesting quote to contemplate. Another quote from that same video is, “There are many truths.”

The reality is that the meaning and context of a photo doesn’t need trick photography and special effects to change or alter its message or meaning. You don’t need a special effects book to tell you that by simply cropping a photo differently you can completely change its “truth”.

Who’s to Know?

Leaving something “out” of a picture, or framing it a certain way gives the viewer a different experience, leads to different emotions and of course, different conclusions.

So, the framing and cropping of images is a way to alter the meaning without using any special effects in photography.

However, as any decent special effects book will demonstrate, it’s VERY easy to alter photos and to do it in such a way (or ways) that one cannot tell just by looking at the end result.

No, special effects in photography have changed the way we need to look at photos!

At least if we’re looking at a photo as representing something “real”.

Whether it’s camera special effects, or photo editing software that alters a photo, the results can be virtually unidentifiable by just looking at the image.

Look Behind the Image

Really, the only way to know if an image has been the subject of special effects is to look at it’s digital “fingerprint”. There’s a file attached to every digital image that tells you pretty much everything you want to know. Basics like time and date the photo was taken, but also a history of the time and date of any modifications as well as the software that made those changes.

So unless you’re a computer geek and know how to change that record without detection, everything you do to alter an image will be tracked.

Naturally that doesn’t help the average person who sees and image and takes it at face value. Nor does it help if some special effects in photography such as special camera effects were used to create the image. There’s limited digital tracking to tell you that! Although the digital file will tell you things like the shutter speed, aperture, ISO setting, etc. So a certain amount of information related to camera special effects is recorded.

Again, this doesn’t help the average viewer, only someone who gains access to the digital file itself.

Don’t Believe Everything You See

Essentially we’re all gullible when looking at magazines, newspapers and websites. We generally accept what we see at face value, rarely questioning whether those images are the result of trick photography and special effects.

And so my advice, if you’re looking at an image that has a profound effect on you, just realize that it might have been altered with special effects photography.

That not so important in the context of just looking at an image as a piece of art. But naturally if it’s news and is supposed to represent a real event, be on guard for the possibility that photo special effects might have changed the “truth”!

To visit the Trick Photography and Special Effects website, click here.

Trick Photography Special Effects Review: Why I Made This Site

Posted by admin on January 27, 2012 No comments

There’s something I call “photographers photos” throughout Evan’s photo ebook. What are they?

Photo by Evan Sharboneau

Of course there’s no hard definition, only how I’ve chosen to define them. So here’s the deal. When you’re a photograher, whether professional or amateur (I’m an amateur), there are certain shots that stand out. Photos that make you take notice or leave you wondering “how did someone do that?”

And those are photographers photos!

The cool thing for me is that special effects in photography are getting easier to create, yet there’s a high degree of complexity and sophistication involved in many of the photo special effects you see.

The Dark Ages – Literally

When I first started out in photography as a youngster about 45 years ago, obviously there was no digital photography, there were no home computers, so naturally there was no photo editing software!

There was film and darkrooms. There was a lot of guesswork and a huge amount of time from the point of taking your photos to getting into the darkroom, messing with lots of nasty chemicals, and finally seeing your results.

And then to be create photo special effects again took hours in the darkroom, burning, dodging and masking. Playing with different chemicals.

Add to this the cost of materials. The film, the photographic paper, the developing chemicals… this was not an inexpensive hobby!

It was a far cry from the instant feedback we get now as we look at the digital image, decide if it’s exactly what we want, and take countless versions until we know we’ll have something we can work with.

The software!

And of course the sophistication of photo editing software, even for the amateur, is astounding. Whether you’re using the grandaddy of them all, PhotoShop, or any one of many knock-offs, they all perform a myriad of tasks and functions.

Some of these replicate the things we used to do in the darkroom. But mostly the features perform tasks that were not even conceivable (at least not by me!) prior to the digital revolution.

I love taking a special effects book, taking some shots, then seeing what I can come up with by following the instructions or tips in a good photo special effects book.

It is a whole new world compared to the state of the art when I started. And I love it!

To visit the Trick Photography and Special Effects website, click here.

Trick Photography and Special Effects Review

Become a wizard behind the lens!