Photography Tricks and Special Effects

I have just finished reading Trick Photography and Special Effects by Evan Sharboneau, and have started the process of watching some of the 9 hours of videos that can be purchased with the book.  I am very picky about what I will spend my money on, and highly critical of most Online information products.  However, this 270 page book, the bonuses, and the videos that accompany it are worth far more than the cost.

I actually first read the bonus material which consists of four smaller books: Core Fundamentals of Photography, Filters for Lenses and Plugins for Photoshop, External Flash and How to Make Money with Photography.  The bonuses in and of themselves are amazing and perfect for the beginning to intermediate photographer to get the base of knowledge needed prior to learning the more advanced techniques taught in the book.

The Core Fundamentals of Photography explains the basics of shutter speed, aperture, lenses, depth of field and more.

Filters are used more in traditional film photography, but some of that knowledge is still applicable.  Photoshop filters on the other hand are very important to digital photography, and the author has included links to a collection of free and premium filters that can add a fun and attractive twist to your photos.

The bonus titled How to Make Money with Photography was of special interest to me.  I have in fact been making some money with my photography and Photoshop manipulations since 2009, but I am always interested in potential ways to earn more.  I prefer to be solitary when taking photos or when I’m engaged in the creative process.  So, photographing events and working with models really turns me off.  This strong desire for solitude limits my earning capacity to some extent and it was nice to finally get some new useful tips on making money with my images.

Photography Tricks and Special Effects

I paid a few thousand dollars for my traditional photography education, and frankly I could have just purchased this package and I would have learned most of what I really needed to know.  Being a photographer that seriously dislikes the look and process of studio work, a good portion of what I learned was really just fluff.

It’s truly not necessary to pay for a formal education in photography unless it is important to you to have a degree or certificate.  The basics of photography never change, and once they are mastered everything else is just creative gravy.

As the author also states, it’s not necessary to own a ton of expensive gear to take great photos.  It is however helpful and sometimes even necessary to own a DSLR camera, and it is very helpful to have software such as Photoshop and/or Lightroom.  The GIMP is free and is a good choice if you can’t afford the aforementioned software.  It is what I used for an entire year before I was able to get Photoshop, and I still have a gushy spot for it in my heart. 🙂

The book Trick Photography and Special Effects is indeed the creative gravy that most photographers need to take their images to the next level.  Long exposure effects, light painting, in camera illusions, post-processing, 3D photography, high speed photography, Bokeh, HDR, panoramas, and much much more are all covered in great detail.  The instructions are very easy to follow and are backed up with a lot of example images.

There is also a chapter called Photoshop Projects which gives many step-by-step tutorials which can easily be adapted to other photo-editing software such as GIMP.

The 9 hours of videos are truly amazing and are all made by the author.  It’s going to take me some time to get through them all, and I want to pace myself, but I have already learned a number of things that I didn’t previously know.  I counted a total of 55 videos!

Anyway, once you have purchased the entire package, you get lifetime access to all of the material.

My only real complaint about this product is the music that immediately starts up when you go to the website.  I hate that!  Be warned.  🙂