When it comes to compositing, more often than not it's the little things that take an image from good to great. In this tutorial I show you how to pull off a simple yet very effective way to create those small embers and sparks that are all the rage in Hollywood action movie posters. Adding details like sparks, debris, fog, dust, etc. to your composites can change the overall mood of your composites and give them that epic feel you are looking for!

Aaron Eveland, the videographer of the wedding duo in Hawaii known as Makai Creative, set out to recreate the classic look of The Endless Summer movie poster – gigantic sunsets behind surfers on the beach – and that he did with the help of a Canon 800mm f/5.6 lens, a 2x Extender, and a lot of trial and error. It’s all worth it as you can see in his short film, Sunchasers.

Leonard Nimoy passed away this week at the age of 83. His long career and legacy will always be remembered in his portrayal of the iconic character "Spock" from the 1966 TV series Star Trek. With numerous film spin-offs and a resurgence to the 2009 blockbuster Star Trek as the half-emotionless Vulcan he was just as relevant today as he was 40 years ago. Though his film career was beyond fulfilling in its own right, his photography work is what will also stay with us for years to come.

I get a lot of questions about retouching. More specifically, what I do in retouching. But if there is one consistent theme in the questions I get, it's "Do you ever have any information or lessons for total beginners?" For years now, the answer has been "Not yet" but starting today, and going over the next few weeks, I will be uploading a free YouTube series on Photoshop Beginner's Basics: Retouching. These 10 videos will get you off the ground using Photoshop because, as they say, you can't run until you've learned to walk.

This week Adobe celebrated 25 years to the birth of Photoshop, the most successful photo editing software in history. No other editing software was ever able to compete with Adobe in that market — other than Paintshop in the early 90s maybe — and Photoshop became a must-have tool for all photographers and creatives out there. Many of Photoshop's users never really experienced the art of developing film, but many of the tools we use and love came directly from the darkroom. Check out the video to see what dodging and burning looked like before Photoshop.

The calendar just turned its pages to 2015. We have tiny and versatile cameras like the GoPro Hero 4 filming 4K video, camera companies making 50-megapixels DSLRs, and artists making mind-blowing stop-motion/hyper-lapse/time-lapse films. So why is it still so hard for artists and big brands to easily connect to collaborate on photo and video projects?

Fine art nude photography is unique in that the nude form is your blank canvas. The possibilities for expression are endless. There is no clothing to detract from the subject, just the model in all their purity. This is why posing, one of your strongest elements for expressions, is of the utmost importance when it comes to creating beautiful fine art nude images. Here I will show you three go-to poses when working with fine art nudes and how to vary them for endless possibilities.