A tool that lets you know which part of your picture is too bright or too dark by pointing the bad pixels directly on your footage. Similar to the way zebra-stripping works on digital cameras.

Learn how to use Fractal Noise to create a textured fade on a layer in After Effects. Then add some more effects and elements to finish up the title effect.

If you want to use the speed/velocity of a layer's movement to drive an effect ...

In this tutorial, Levi Borland shows you a cool way to make it appear as though your character teleports out of the way of a speeding vehicle.

Learn how to create a morphing effect from one graphic element to another using fractal-noise animation. You will learn how to create a map grid with interactive animation. Use brightness animation to control the fractal noise for an organic transition effect.

A practical application of a layer space transform.
Not very new, but still very useful.
by Dan Ebberts's resource for After Effects scripting and expressions

With this preset you can prevent "CC Light Rays" to cause a light spot if it's not over an opaque part of a layer.

With this preset you can cause the opacity of a layer to control the brightness of a "Lens Flare".

More experimentation with sampleImage().
from http://www.creative-workflow-hacks.com