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Alex Cooke
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Articles written by Alex Cooke

How to Choose the Right Lens for Landscape Photography

When it comes to landscape photography, the standard lens of choice is the wide angle, as many scenes demand a large angle of view to get everything into one frame. And while wide angle lenses certainly have their place, other focal lengths are just as useful. This excellent video tutorial discusses how to choose the right lens for a specific landscape scene.

What Do You Do When Everything Goes Wrong in Landscape Photography?

Landscape photography can be a frustrating pursuit at times, as you are at the mercy of what the light and weather give you, and those do not always align with your plans. That does not mean you should just pack up your camera and go home, though. You can still get worthwhile images in such scenarios, and this excellent video follows a photographer as he encounters just such a situation, providing an important lesson.

A Review of the Ultra-Fast Fujifilm XF 50mm f/1.0 R WR Lens

The Fujifilm XF 50mm f/1.0 R WR gives bokeh lovers the opportunity for some of the most extreme images out there. With such a boundary-pushing design, you might wonder if its image quality and autofocus performance can keep up with demands. This excellent video review takes a look at the lens in real-world usage and if it can provide the results you need.

How Do You Know When You Have Taken a Good Photo?

It might seem like a silly question, but there are times where you will look at the images on the back of your camera and it will not be entirely clear if you have a keeper. So, how can you tell when you have taken a worthwhile photo? This excellent video tutorial discusses what to look for when evaluating your images.

See How Peter Hurley Uses Natural and Continuous Light for Headshots

Most professional headshot photographers use strobes for their studio work, but of course, that does not mean you can't use continuous or even natural light for your work. This excellent video tutorial from the one and only Peter Hurley will show you how to use both natural light and continuous lighting for taking headshots.

5 Tips for Lighting the Background of a Portrait

When it comes to lighting for portraits, we mostly focus on learning how to light our subjects; after all, that is what the eye is drawn. But a complete image involves accounting for how the background is lit as well, and that can be the difference that makes your photos truly professional. This helpful video tutorial will give you five tips to improve the lighting of your portrait backgrounds.

A Look at an Astrophotographer's Best Image

Astrophotography is a tremendously challenging genre, requiring specialized equipment, excellent technique, a lot of knowledge, and loads of patience. However, when you get a good image, it is all worth it, as you can capture some of the most remarkable photos of our universe. This great video follows an astrophotographer as he captures what he considers to be the best photo he has taken so far.

A Review of the Affordable Sigma 28-70mm f/2.8 DG DN Contemporary Lens

A 24-70mm f/2.8 lens is the workhorse of choice for a huge range of photographers, but such lenses are often quite expensive. Sigma's 28-70mm f/2.8 DG DN Contemporary comes in at about half the price of competitors, making it quite appealing for those who can live without 24mm on the wide end. This great video review takes a look at the lens and the kind of performance and image quality you can expect from it in practice.

A Review of the Nikon NIKKOR Z 14-30mm f/4 S Lens

An ultra-wide angle zoom lens is a useful tool for many different genres, and while the professional standard of such lenses is usually f/2.8, those who do not need that extra stop can save a lot of weight and money by opting for an f/4 version. This excellent video review takes a look at one such lens for Nikon mirrorless shooters, the NIKKOR Z 14-30mm f/4 S.

5 Things Every Wedding Photographer Should Do After a Wedding

Wedding photography is a challenging, high-pressure genre, but the work does not end once you leave the venue for the night. There are some crucial things you should do after every wedding to give your business the best chance for success, and this excellent video discusses five of the most important.

How Much a Photographer Made on YouTube in 2020

For a lot of creatives, making all or a significant part of their income via YouTube is a dream. However, to get there takes a lot of serious, consistent work and the ability to remain constantly innovative and able to come up with new ideas and present them in a compelling way with high production value. This great video pulls back the curtain and shows you how one well-known photographer did on the platform in 2020.

5 Uncommon Landscape Photography Composition Tips

Composition is a tricky thing when it comes to landscape photography, where even subtle variations can make or break a photo. If you have been struggling with your compositions lately, check out this great video tutorial that will give you five unusual tips that will help you improve your landscape photos.

Canon's RF 85mm f/1.2L USM Lens Is Ridiculously Good

The Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM lens is a bit of a legend, known for its insanely wide aperture and a favorite of numerous portrait photographers. Now that the mirrorless age is upon us, its natural successor, the RF 85mm f/1.2L USM, is here. This great video review compares the new lens to the prior EF version, and it shows just how remarkably good the latest model is.

A Review of Sony's Impressive New FE 14mm f/1.8 GM Lens

Sony's new FE 14mm f/1.8 GM lens offers an extremely wide maximum aperture for such a focal length, enabling both photographers and filmmakers impressive creative capabilities and looking like a dream for events and astrophotographers. This excellent video review takes a look at the lens and the sort of performance and image quality you can expect from it in real-world usage.

Two Ways to Color Grade Highlights and Shadows Using Lightroom

Lightroom recently added some new tools for color grading, and there are now multiple ways to warm up the highlights, add a cinematic touch to the shadows, and more. This excellent video tutorial will show you two different ways to selectively color grade your photos in Lightroom.

How to Copy a Movie's Color Grade to Your Photos

If there is one thing big-budget movies know how to do well, it is color grading. If you have a favorite movie in mind when it comes to color grading and you would like to apply that style to your photos, this helpful video tutorial will show you how to take it and apply it to your own photos using Photoshop.

How to Quickly and Easily Improve Your Photo Compositions

Compositions make or break photos, and they can be a really tricky thing to master. If you have been struggling with your compositions lately and need something that can get you back on the right track, check out this quick and helpful video tutorial on how to improve your compositions.

A Look at the New M1 iMac for Photographers and Filmmakers

The new iMacs are here, and Apple has updated its popular computer with a variety of new features ranging from new color options to the company's lauded M1 system on a chip. For photographers and filmmakers, it is likely to be a good choice for creative work. If you are interested in it for your office, check out this great video review that takes a look at how it performs for photo and video work.

Creating Minimalist Landscape Photos With a Telephoto Lens

For the most part, landscape photographs are shot using a wide angle lens to capture as much of the scene as possible. Of course, however, that is not the only way you have to approach the genre. A telephoto lens can give a novel and interesting view of a scene. This excellent video tutorial will show you how to use a telephoto lens to take minimalist landscape shots.

How That Lightroom Tab You Never Touch Can Improve Your Images

There are a ton of ways to edit any given photo, and Lightroom gives you a plethora of tools to get there. And with all those tools, some things can get a bit lost in the shuffle, one of those being the Calibration tab. And even though it does not get much attention, it can be an impressive creative tool in your arsenal, and this excellent video tutorial will show you how to use it to give your images a nice boost.