Alex Cooke's picture
Average rating:
3.2 out of 5
3.2
Alex Cooke
Cleveland, OH

Articles written by Alex Cooke

21 Helpful Tips to Improve Your Wildlife Photography

Wildlife photography is a challenging genre that often requires strong technique, specialized knowledge and equipment, and a lot of patience. Whether you are a new wildlife photographer or a longtime pro, this excellent video tutorial will give you 21 tips sure to help you create more compelling wildlife photos.

A Review of the New Samyang 35mm f/1.4 AF II Lens

35mm lenses with wide apertures are highly popular because they are so versatile, able to tackle everything from weddings to astrophotography and much more. However, a good 35mm lens can easily run you north of $2,000. So, at $799, the Samyang 35mm f/1.4 AF II looks like quite the intriguing option. This great video review takes a look at the lens and the sort of image quality and performance you can expect from it in usage.

What Is the Difference Between Fisheye and Rectilinear Lenses?

If you are new to photography, you might be wondering about fundamental differences between lenses. Many beginners are drawn to fisheye lenses, which offer a different perspective on the world and the ability to get a massive field of view in one frame. So, what is the difference between a fisheye lens and a more standard rectilinear model? This excellent video tutorial will teach you what distinguishes them.

How to Properly Focus Stack Moving Water in Landscape Photos

Focus stacking is one of the most useful techniques a landscape photographer can have in their bag of tricks, making it easy to create images that are ultra-sharp across the entire frame. However, it can be a bit tricky when you have moving water in the frame. This great video tutorial will show you how to properly focus stack such a photo to get the best possible results.

A Beginner's Guide to Using Lighting Modifiers for Video

Photography and video have some crucial differences between them, but perhaps the most important similarity between them is that good lighting is crucial to getting the best results. If you are new to video and working on building your skills, check out this great video tutorial that will show you a variety of different lighting modifiers and how to use them to create professional-level results.

Why Outdoor Photographers Should Consider Buying an Apple Watch

Whether you are shooting landscapes, wildlife, or something else, many photography genres require you to spend a significant amount of times outdoors, sometimes fairly far from civilization. In addition to all your camera gear, there are some tools that can make those treks both easier and safer. This great video makes a case for why an Apple Watch might be an outdoor photographer's best friend.

How to Extract the Color Grade From an Image and Apply It to Another

Few things can more dramatically impact the mood and feel of an image than the color grade. We all have favorite color grades, whether from photos or movies. Thankfully, Photoshop has some nifty built-in tools that allow you to easily copy the color grade from one image and apply it to another, and this excellent video tutorial will show you how to do just that.

A Review of the Fujifilm X-H2 Mirrorless Camera

The Fujifilm X-H2 mirrorless camera is a major step forward for the company's highly popular X Series, bringing with it a variety of impressive upgrades and new features, most notable being a 40.2-megapixel high-resolution sensor, all wrapped up in the beloved design the bodies are known for. This excellent video review takes a look at the camera and the sort of performance and image quality you can expect from it in practice.

A Beginner's Guide to Camera Properties and Settings

Starting out in photography is a daunting thing, as you have to learn a wide range of concepts, master technical parameters, and develop creative vision all at the same time. Nonetheless, you can boil down operating your camera to a few fundamental things that, once mastered, will allow you to start your journey with much more confidence and control. This helpful video tutorial will show you everything you need to know about those fundamentals so you can get to shooting.

This Impressive Lens for Fujifilm X Cameras Is Just $149

While the prices of lenses from many first-party manufacturers seem to stretch higher and higher, we have also seen an influx of affordable options from third-party makers. Some of these options have been astonishingly low in price while still turning in acceptable to even surprisingly good performance. One such lens is the TTArtisan 27mm f/2.8 for Fujifilm X Series cameras, and this great video review takes a look at the lens and the sort of performance and image quality you can expect from it in practice.

A Look at the Clever Automation of Film Cameras

We take a lot for granted in the digital era, particularly the automation of a lot of functions. In the early days of film, everything was fully manual, and even one parameter set incorrectly could ruin an entire roll. Later in the 20th century, a standard called DX (Digital indeX) was introduced, and it automated a lot of settings, reducing errors and making photography more accessible to amateurs and casual users. How did it work? This neat video takes you behind the scenes of the surprisingly sophisticated system.

How to Quickly Remove Flyaway Hairs on a Subject's Face in Photoshop

One of the most common and annoying issues portrait photographers will have to deal with is flyaway hairs, which can be particularly distracting when they run across your subject's face. Nonetheless, you can get rid of them quickly and convincingly using Photoshop, and this great video tutorial will show you how to do just that.

A Helpful Approach for Better Landscape Photos

One of the beautiful things about landscape photography is that there are so many ways to approach how you create images. If you are working on your own approach, check out this great video tutorial that features an experienced landscape photographer discussing an effective approach for the genre.

A Review of the Venus Optics Argus 18mm f/0.95 MFT APO Lens

Venus Optics has established themselves as a maker of unique lenses that often push the boundaries of design, and the new Argus 18mm f/0.95 MFT APO continues that trends by offering Micro Four Thirds photographers a versatile focal length paired with an extremely wide maximum aperture. This great video review takes a look at the lens and the sort of performance and image quality you can expect from it in practice.

How to Use Photoshop's Powerful New Masking Features

Lightroom and Photoshop have made some major steps forward in masking capabilities, and complicated masks that used to take a lot of intricate and time-intensive work can now be made in mere seconds with just a click. This great video tutorial will show you where to find Photoshop's new AI masking features and how to use them for quick and precise edits.

How to Edit Portraits Using Lightroom's Powerful New Masking Features

It used to be that if you wanted to edit portraits, you would head to Photoshop. However, in recent years, Lightroom has gained more advanced capabilities, and now, with its powerful new masking features, it stands as a viable alternative for at least basic to moderate portrait edits. This helpful video tutorial will show you how to take advantage of those new features to edit your portrait shots in Lightroom.

5 Things That Derail Landscape Photography

Landscape photography is a challenging genre that takes a variety of different aptitudes coming together simultaneously to create successful images. As such, there are a lot of things that can inadvertently derail your process. This great video tutorial features an experienced landscape photographer discussing five such things and how to fix or avoid them in the first place.

Can a $69 Lens Produce Professional Photos?

50mm lenses can cost anywhere from under $100 to well over $2,000, with options at just about every level in between. At the very lowest end of the spectrum sits the TTArtisan 50mm f/2, which retails for just $69. Can it produce worthwhile images at such a low price? This great video review takes a look to answer that question.

Just How Good Is the Canon EOS R7 Mirrorless Camera?

Canon's 7D line of APS-C DSLRs were very popular during their time, offering many features and capabilities from high-level professional cameras in much more affordable bodies. The EOS R7 has continued that in the mirrorless age, and in the meantime, it has also brought with it a wide range of new features and upgrades that make it appealing for a lot of creatives. This great video review takes a look at the EOS R7 in a challenging scenario and just how far you can push those capabilities.