Pulling hats from the ears of white rabbits? A behind the scenes look at a little magic from West Coast Midnight Run

Less expensive systems, only they are not integrated and may present compatibility issues in loading up files from one software into another.

And you have to do some shopping to find the best package for you or your business. Expect to be mislead by many online software publishers and their claims to what their systems can perform.

You will also find lots of online tutorials. Most will sound like a foreign language at first. And many will not show you the actual information needed to produce the magic displayed by the artists. They will hold back some information that gives them an edge and exclusivity in creating visual content.

Most FX layouts today depend on the ability of the artists to use multiple raw sources or stock images in “composing” the final image.

Essentially the secret resides in the ability to control and create separate

layers upon which reside different graphic elements and you can manipulate the shading, color, glow, transparency, and various elements such as smoke, sparkle and glitter that create the illusion of a single image when in reality the result is created from many different images. The biggest challenge is finding a concept that tells a story visually or plays counterpoint to the essay or editorial in the magazine.

In essence the process is like a plastic surgeon that takes small steps and creates small improvements here and there with the overall result being far better than the original ordinary image.

Sometimes there is no concept at all and you have budgetary constraints as well as technical. You start playing with some elements - whatever information you have and eventually a concept falls into place from the effort itself. Testing, experimenting, trial and error, this process in itself produces concepts and revs up the production engine.

There are lots of plug-in packs and “brushes”, essentially mini programs that install into your system. Many have redundant features. Be patient and expect a lot of failures before scoring a measure of success and being able to dazzle your colleagues and peers.