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Alex Cooke
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Articles written by Alex Cooke

How to Create the Film Look in Lightroom

The film look continues to gain popularity, and whether you use it as part of your personal aesthetic or for clients, knowing how to create it from digital images is a good skill to have. This helpful video tutorial will show you everything you need to know to create the look using nothing but Lightroom.

5 Easy Concepts for Portraits in a Park

A park is a fantastic place to shoot portraits, full of interesting architecture, compelling light, and eye-catching foliage. If you would like to explore your creativity a bit, check out this fantastic video tutorial that will show you five easy concepts for shooting portraits in a park.

A Review of the Fujifilm XF 23mm f/1.4 R LM WR Lens

A 35mm lens with a wide maximum aperture is one of the most useful and versatile optics a photographer can have in their bag, suitable for a huge range of applications, including weddings, astrophotography, portraits, and more. For Fuji shooters, there is the XF 23mm f/1.4 R LM WR lens, and this excellent video review takes a look at the sort of performance and image quality you can expect from it in real-world usage.

How to Plan a Landscape Photoshoot

You can certainly just head out with your camera and create photos as you happen upon interesting scenes or subjects, but when it comes to shooting things like landscapes and cityscapes, planning ahead can really help you get next-level images. This helpful video tutorial features an experienced photographer discussing how he plans a shoot and showing some useful tools to give you a better chance of coming home with the shot you want.

A Beginner's Guide to Color Grading Photos

Color grading is a good chance to add your personal touch to an image and to take it from good to memorable. It is a deceptively complex thing, though, and it takes a good eye and light touch to do it effectively. This helpful video tutorial will show you some great first steps and techniques for color grading images that are sure to get you up and running in no time.

How to Clean Sensor Dust in Lightroom

Even if you follow all the guidelines for keeping your sensor free of dust, it is something that will probably happen to you at one time or another, and worse yet, you might not notice it until you are at home, looking at your images on your computer. Thankfully, though, it is not very difficult to take care of it using Lightroom, and this helpful video tutorial will show you how to quickly and easily take care of it.

How to Make Your Own Food Photography Backgrounds

Creating an eye-catching and successful food photo is about more than simply lighting and arranging the food in a compelling way; you need to be able to create a set that complements the food and enhances the overall mood of the image. This helpful video tutorial features an experienced food photographer discussing some ways you can go about doing that.

A Review of the New Laowa 90mm f/2.8 APO 2x Lens

Venus Optics has long been known for producing unique and capable lenses that offer impressive performance at quite affordable prices. Their latest lens, the Laowa 90mm f/2.8 APO 2x, offers twice the magnification of a traditional macro lens for not a lot of money, and it is available for all major mirrorless full frame mounts. This great video review takes a look at the new lens and the sort of performance and image quality you can expect from it in practice.

Should OM Systems Release an Update to This Impressive Classic Lens?

Not many kit lenses are known for their performance or image quality, but there are a few hidden gems out there that offer quite a lot for not a lot of money. One such example is the Olympus M.Zuiko 12-50mm f/3.5-6.3, and this great video review takes a look at the lens, what makes it great, and why OM Systems should consider an updated version.

What Camera Quirks Annoy You?

Modern cameras are quite capable and powerful machines, but none of them are perfect. Every camera has quirks that we find annoying or would like to change. This interesting video discusses five annoying camera quirks in current cameras.

Can Modern Supertelephoto Zoom Lenses Replace Expensive Primes?

There used to be no contest in image quality between supertelephoto prime and zoom lenses. Zooms simply could not keep pace with primes, and if you wanted to create professional-level photos or work in demanding conditions, you had no choice but to shell out for a top-shelf prime. Supertelephoto zoom lenses have made tremendous progress in the last few years, however. So, do you still need to buy those ultra-expensive primes? This great video discusses the topic.

Two Months With the DJI Mavic 3 Cine Drone

The DJI Mavic 3 is the company's newest drone, and it brings with it a nice range of new features and improvements. This great video review takes a look at the drone and the sort of performance and image quality you can expect from it in practice.

A Review of the New Viltrox AF 13mm f/1.4 Lens

Viltrox has established themselves as a company producing highly affordable but impressively capable lenses, and their newest option, the AF 13mm f/1.4, offers Sony and Nikon mirrorless APS-C photographers and filmmakers a versatile ultra-wide angle focal length paired with a very wide maximum aperture. This excellent video review takes a look at the new lens and the sort of performance and image quality you can expect from it in practice.

How One Creative Started Getting Higher-Paying Jobs

Higher-paying jobs are the goal of just about any photographer or filmmaker, but the path to getting there is not always clear. If you are looking to land those more lucrative gigs, check out this great video essay that discusses how one creative started pulling down more income with his work.

Five Common Video Editing Mistakes

Creating a compelling, professional video is just as much in the editing as it is in the shooting process. Editing is a serious undertaking, and as such, it can be easy for things to go wrong. This great video tutorial details five common mistakes creatives make when editing video and what you can do to fix them or avoid them in the first place.

How to Blend Ambient and Artificial Lighting

Using natural or artificial light is not always a binary choice; often, you will want the two to complement each to produce a more balanced overall photo. If you would like to make your lighting skills more versatile, check out this fantastic video tutorial that will show you how to blend ambient light with flash for portraiture work.

Learn How This Landscape Photo Was Edited

In general, landscape photography is a two-step process, shooting the photo and polishing it through the editing process. As such, your skills at the computer need to be as finely honed as those behind the camera. This excellent video tutorial will show you the process of taking an image with a lot of potential and turning it into a compelling final photo through the power of editing.

Why Most Photographers Should Turn This Lightroom Setting On

Lightroom has more than one way of keeping tracking of the edits you make to your images, and the various methods have pros and cons that you should be aware of as your catalog grows. This helpful video discusses the usefulness of XMP files and why you should consider using them.

What Photos Can You Create With a Kit Lens?

Photo gear is quite expensive, and tricking out your kit can be a serious hit to your bank account. And yet, we often chase that next new piece of gear in the hopes of getting better image quality. And while new equipment can do that, you might be surprised by how much you can accomplish with basic equipment. This great video shows you the fantastic photos you can create using nothing more than a kit lens.

How to Create Subtle Light With Off-Camera Flash

When you think of using artificial light for portrait photography, you might think of it being a calculated, obvious aesthetic, but often, using flash is more about creating a subtle, understated effect that makes your images more balanced and well exposed. This excellent video tutorial will show you how to use artificial light to create an elegant effect for an eye-catching photo.