This is good advice. If you need to achieve an effect but don’t even know what the relevant tool is called, someone can help you out.
Beyond that, my advice is to let your eyes be honest with you. By this I mean - if it’s not 100% right, admit that to yourself and continue working. Avoid telling yourself it is “good enough”. Your eyes are your #1 most important tool, use them!
He needs to split the scene of his render into its pieces.
Geometry > Shading > Lighting > Compositing > Render.
3D is detailwork. You need to understand basics of the 3D workspace. It is all about surfaces, shading and compositing. Animation also adds smooth movement to this.
The particle effects and simulation are a science of itself! Not even the best artists can truly solve them completely! You need luck and a good day of Blender itself, so it produces a fine particle simulation like you desire. Otherwise you can tweak hours and hours and the result you desire may not occure. You need phsics knowledge and some kind of engineering knowledge to understand what Ton and his team have programmed into those simulations.
These simulation routines are realistic.