I've looked at the videos you linked to and I now have a clearer idea of what you meant in your original question. The backdrop image you are referring to, that shows in the compositor behind the node setup, is a result of the connection of the viewer node. If you have a viewer node connected but the backdrop checkbox unchecked then there will be nothing displayed. If you have the backdrop box checked but no viewer node then again nothing will be displayed. If there is no completed render result to feed an image to the render layer then again nothing will be displayed.

I am using Blender version 2.77a and can't replicate the problem you are describing in so far as no backdrop image appearing with the proper node setup but I can offer a couple of suggestions.

• In the Energy Effect tutorial it looks like the author clicks on the render layer node which resulted in the image appearing (it was subtle and I may be imagining it).
• If still nothing happens try re-rendering once the node setup is connected.

The Ctrl+Shift+Click you are referring to is a feature of the Node Wrangler addon which comes with Blender by default so make sure that this is activated in the User Preferences>Addons. To make it work press and hold Ctrl+Shift and then Click on the node that you want the viewer node to connect with. If you just click anywhere nothing will happen. In the Magic Mineral tutorial creating the viewer node connection with the Ctrl+Shift+Click method requires the render layer to be clicked on (like with the Energy Effect tutorial) resulting in the backdrop appearing.

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