Cool eclipse video needed no 'Star Wars' special effects

As an Oscar-winning executive at Lucasfilm's Industrial Light & Magic, John Knoll has Star Wars-worthy special effects wizardry at his fingertips, yet he needed nothing but a video camera, a tree and the front of his house yesterday to capture this remarkably beautiful "pinhole" video of the annular eclipse. Read more

Stop... hover time: Have the Chinese made the worst photoshop job ever?

There is a certain charm to terrible special effects in early sci-fi films, but when you are a world superpower failing to knock up a convincing Photoshop image in 2012 is a tad embarrassing.

Stop... hover time: Chinese technicians produce unconvincing propaganda image of officials floating in mid air

They have the biggest army in the world and a huge economy but it would appear China still has a bit to learn when it comes to propaganda after a poorly Photoshopped image of a 'floating' man triggers ridicule on the internet.

Baker's dozens: Veteran makeup effects wizard Rick Baker designs alien throng for 'Men in Black 3'

Outside of directors and the odd screenwriter or two, there are very few movie stars behind the camera—"star" in the sense of a marquee name who can put butts in seats. Special-effects makeup legend Rick Baker is one of them.

PhotoFunia creates seamless Special FX on your iPhone

PhotoFunia is a clever and free novelty app for iPhone camera buffs. It will allow you to create a variety of special effects that would take quite awhile in something like Photoshop. Here are some examples: Using face detection, it can take a photo of a friend and cleanly insert the face over another body like an astronaut in a space suit or someone atop a motorcycle or a surf board ...