Ron Leach

Selling a home isn’t easy in today’s challenging real estate market, so an enterprising young couple came up with an eye-catching concept they thought might attract attention to a home they were selling: They wanted the main photo for their listing to have an attractive model levitating on a magic carpet.

“Focus stacking” is a powerful image-editing technique for increasing the apparent depth of field in an image, and it’s relatively easy to accomplish. The idea is to shoot several photos of a scene at slightly different distances, and then merge the sharpest portions of each shot using Photoshop, Lightroom or another editing program.

Fun, cheap and creative: That’s what camera hacks are all about. And in the video below, you’ll learn eight awesome ways to create unique images without spending a dime.

Most photographers love their state-of-the-art cameras and premium glass, and they strive to capture perfectly exposed images from the best locations possible. But according to one top pro, all of that is meaningless unless you have the patience to wait for the decisive moment before snapping the shutter.