Articles written by Alex Cooke

Whether you are an amateur or professional, it is something that we will all struggle with at one point or another: hitting a wall with our work. So, what can you do when things just are not going well? This insightful video discusses the topic and offers some great advice for getting out of a rut.

Canon's EF 85mm f/1.2L lens was well known for being a superlative portrait lens with a boundary-pushing design that was popular with many photographers. However, it was not without flaws, particularly a notoriously finicky autofocus system and soft image quality at wide apertures. The RF 85mm f/1.2L improves on both those issues and brings modern refinements to the classic version, and this awesome video shows the kind of images you can get from it.

When it comes to portrait lenses, 85mm tends to be the focal length that gets the majority of the attention from gearheads and is often where manufacturers put some of their flagship designs. That being said, 50mm lenses are an excellent choice and often the choice of top portrait photographers, and this excellent video will show you why they are so useful.

The sad and often frustrating truth is that many times, there are very talented photographers who do not find success as professionals, no matter how good they are with a camera and how many interesting creative ideas they have. So, what, if not only talent, does it take to find success as a photographer? This important video essay discusses the traits of successful photographers.

We all develop bad habits no matter what genre we shoot in, and landscape photography is no different. Learning how to recognize those habits and rewire ourselves to break them can improve our images and make the process more enjoyable. This fantastic video tutorial discusses four common habits of landscape photographers and how tweaking them a bit can lead to better photos.

The Fstoppers community is brimming with creative vision and talent. Every day, we comb through your work, looking for images to feature as the Photo of the Day or simply to admire your creativity and technical prowess. In 2021, we're featuring a new photographer every month, whose portfolio represents both stellar photographic achievement and a high level of involvement within the Fstoppers community.

Apple's iPhones have some fantastic built-in cameras that can handle a wide variety of situations with ease, making them a great option for a camera that is always in your pocket. While the stock camera app is designed to provide a simple process that ensures you always get a great shot, there are more powerful options hiding within that interface, and this great video tutorial will show you how to get the most out of them.

No doubt, when you are first starting out as a photographer, it can be overwhelming trying to learn and master a huge range of things, including lighting, cameras settings, composition, creative style, post-processing, and more. As such, it can be easy to make mistakes in a lot of different places. This great video tutorial discusses 10 common mistakes newer photographers make and how to fix them or avoid them entirely.

No doubt, a few years ago, any sort of bokeh added in post was noticeably fake. However, software has come a long way in the last few years, especially with the proliferation of things like artificial intelligence and neural network capabilities. Luminar AI and Photoshop are leading the pack at the moment, and this great video comparison takes a look at their bokeh-generating capabilities.