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Alex Cooke
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Articles written by Alex Cooke

A Comprehensive Review of the Canon EOS R3 Mirrorless Camera

The Canon EOS R3 has arrived, building on the wild success of the EOS R5 by taking things to another level and offering professionals who demand the most extreme performance and capabilities an intriguing option. Does it live up to its specs? This fantastic video review takes a look.

Can You Clean Your Gutters With a Drone?

Anyone who owns a home with trees around it will tell you what a pain cleaning the roof and gutters is; it is probably one of the most universally hated but necessary household chores. Wouldn't it be great if you had a flying leaf blower that could take care of things? It turns out you kind of do — if you own a drone.

How to Choose the Correct Camera Settings

When it comes to landscape photography, you can create a multitude of images using an identical composition simply by varying your settings. If you are newer to the genre and wondering how to choose the right shutter speed, aperture, and ISO values for a given image, this fantastic video tutorial will walk you through several real-life examples to help you gain more confidence in your abilities.

Is the Sony a7 IV the Best Hybrid Camera Available?

Few cameras were more hotly anticipated than the Sony a7 IV, the long-awaited update to the popular and highly respected a7 III. Meant to be equally at home in both photo and video scenarios, the a7 IV brings with it a balanced feature set for hybrid shooters, and this excellent video review takes a look at what you can expect from it on both sides of the coin.

How to Customize Lightroom to Your Needs

Many of us simply use Lightroom in its default state, and given the program's good organization, that generally works just fine for most applications. However, it can be beneficial to tweak the program a bit to better fit your needs and preferred manner of working, and this helpful video tutorial will show you how to go about doing just that.

Is the Fujifilm GFX 100S the Best Camera for Landscape Photography?

Fujifilm's GFX series of medium format mirrorless cameras caught the attention of the photography industry by bringing a lot of modern camera features to larger sensors and doing so at impressively modest prices. The GFX 100S epitomizes that by offering a ton of resolution, dynamic range, and image quality, all at a price that sits at the upper end of the full frame spectrum. Is it the ultimate camera for landscape photographers? This excellent video review takes a look.

Is This Affordable Bokeh Master Lens Worth the Price?

50mm lenses are some of the most popular out there, and they range from sub-$100 f/1.8 versions to well over $2,000 for professional-level f/1.2 versions. However, Meike makes a 50mm f/1.2 lens for all popular full frame mirrorless mounts that costs less that $400, making it a potentially appealing option for photographers and filmmakers who love bokeh but not the money it often costs. This excellent video review takes a look at the lens and the image quality and performance you can expect from it in practice.

Good Lighting Kits for Beginner Studio Photographers

When you are ready to move into working in your own studio, you will, of course, have to bring in your own lighting. Lighting can run a huge gamut of price and features, however, and it can be tricky to know what you need to get started. If you are looking for some decent lighting to get you up and running and that will not break the bank, check out this helpful video that will show you some good beginner lighting kits for studio work.

5 Ways to Improve Your Landscape Photography

Landscape photography is a tough genre that takes a lot of technical knowledge, creative savvy, planning in advance, and a bit of luck. If you are interested in improving your landscape work, check out this fantastic video tutorial that will show you five different methods you can use to improve your landscape images.

Could You Save This Messed-up Footage?

No doubt, modern cameras and editing software have allowed us to push edits to extremes we would never have dreamed of previously, but still, to ensure the best image and video quality and significantly reduce our work at the computer, getting things right in camera is best. That being said, there will be times when things need some work in post. This neat video challenges four colorists to correct severely askew footage and will teach you some great methods in the process.

A Look at the Affordable and Versatile Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 Di III VXD G2 Lens

Tamron really hit it out of the park with the 28-75mm f/2.8 Di III RXD, which offered an incredible balance between performance, image quality, portability, and, perhaps most importantly of all, price. The second iteration of the lens is now available, and it builds on the original with a range of improvements. This excellent video review takes a look at the new version and the sort of performance and image quality you can expect from it in practice.

The Best One-Light Portrait Photography Setup for Beginners

If you ever watch videos of professional portrait photographers at work, you might them using two, three, or even more lights in complex and intricate setups. And while those certainly have their place, you can still create fantastic images using only one light, and if you are new to artificial lighting, this is actually the better way to learn how to use it. This great video tutorial will show you a straightforward one-light setup for portraits and how to create professional portraits with it.

This Lens Was Way Ahead of Its Time

We take ridiculously powerful autofocus that can lock onto something like a subject's eye and track it through a challenging environment for granted nowadays, and we sometimes forget that there was a time when autofocus did not even exist. However, in the late 1970s, autofocus began to appear, and even though Canon's lens mount at the time did not support it, they found a way to put it in a lens anyway. This neat video review takes a look at that lens.

Is the M1 Max MacBook Pro All You Need for Creative Work?

Apple's M1 chip turned the computing world on its head when it first arrived, and the M1 Pro and M1 Max chips took things several steps further, promising even better performance in tandem with highly impressive battery life. So, how does the latest MacBook Pro perform in practice, under the demands of a professional creative? This great video review will show you what you can expect from it.

5 Signs It's Time to Raise Your Prices

Pricing is a tricky thing and something that a lot of photographers struggle with, particularly since there is less objective guidance on how to go about it than in many other industries. One especially difficult topic is knowing when it is time to raise your prices. This helpful video tutorial will show you five signs that it may be time to charge a bit more for your services.

A Review of the Canon EOS R5 for Landscape Photography

The Canon EOS R5 grabbed a lot of headlines when it came out, mostly for features like blazing fast autofocus, a 20 fps burst rate, and 8K raw video. And while those are all quite impressive, the EOS R5 also came with one of the best sensors the company has ever produced, making it an intriguing option for landscape photographers. This excellent video review takes a look at the EOS R5 for landscape work and the kind of image quality you can expect from it.

How to Deal With Flat Light in Landscape Photography

In some genres, flat, even light can be a real boon for the photographer, but in landscape photography, it can rob a scene of the drama created by the interplay between light and shadow and the natural contrasts across the frame. That does not mean you can't create great images in flat light, though. This excellent video tutorial will show you what you need to know.

Is This 50mm Lens Worth the Upgrade?

50mm lenses run the gamut from under $100 to well over $1,000 and everywhere in between. Almost every new photographer is told to buy one of the budget options, a nifty fifty, but this lens offers a bit of an upgrade in performance and image quality without flirting with the stratospheric prices of top-shelf options. Is it worth the bump in price? This great video review takes a look.

What Actually Makes Us Better Photographers

All of us want to be better photographers, and it seems like the internet is overflowing with methods that claim to help you do that — some legitimate and some not. That being said, there are some dangerous rabbit holes you can go down in this pursuit of improvement, particularly when they involve your wallet. This excellent video essay features an experienced photographer providing a good reminder of what really matters when it comes to becoming a better photographer.

The Thing That Kills Good Photos

It takes the meeting of several factors to create a good photo, and the absence or poor execution of any one of them can often derail the entire image. Some of these factors are obvious, but some can sneak up on us, often not noticed until we are back at home to examine our shots on our computers. This great video essay discusses one of the tricker factors and what you can do to get it right.