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Alex Cooke
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Articles written by Alex Cooke

Helpful Forest Photography Composition Tips

Forests are an abundant resource around the world, and they offer a wide range of photographic opportunities that evolve throughout the seasons and change with the weather. This excellent video tutorial discusses some great tips and ideas for composing forest images.

A Comprehensive Comparison of Six Popular Macro Lenses

A good macro lens is one of the most versatile optics a photographer can own, able to shoot a wide variety of subjects from portraits to the small details around us with sharp results. If you are looking for a macro lens of your own, this fantastic video compares six popular options to help you decide which is right for you.

13 Helpful Tips and Tricks for Being Productive at Home

The coronavirus lockdown has led to most creatives stuck at home and having to seriously rethink their work habits and how they can stay productive during this downtime. If that is something you are struggling with a bit, this excellent video features 13 tips and ideas for being productive while you are at home.

8K Video on a Phone: Just How Good Is the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra

4K has become the standard resolution for a lot of video production and consumption, with the cutting edge of the camera world eyeing 8K devices. Samsung's latest flagship phone, the Galaxy S20 Ultra, has some jaw-dropping camera specs, including 8K video, and while those numbers are certainly impressive, you might wonder how well they hold up in the real world, particularly on a phone. This great video review takes a look at how the phone's video capabilities hold up in practice.

How to Take Simple and Effective Speedlight Portraits

Photographers who do not specialize in portraiture or other genres involving working with people may not own dedicated professional lighting equipment suitable for the task. But almost every photographer owns a speedlight, and you might be surprised by how versatile they can be for lighting portraits. This great video tutorial will show you how to take effective portraits using a single speedlight.

A Look at the Empty Streets of Paris During the Coronavirus Pandemic

The coronavirus pandemic has led to massive shutdowns across the world, with the everyday lives of many people coming to a complete stop. Paris is one such city, with its historic and vibrant streets now standing quiet and devoid of much of the life that normally fills them. This video explores the city and shows just how remarkably different it is due to the COVID-19 lockdown.

Two Years With the Sony a7 III: How Does It Hold up in the Long Run?

The Sony a7 III has been around for a couple of years now, but even among newer cameras, it stills strikes a competitive balance of capabilities and price for both photographers and videographers. This great video review takes a look at how the camera holds up after a couple of years of usage.

Creative Waterdrop Photography You Can Try at Home

Waterdrop photography can be a great way both to practice your technical skills and to experiment with your creativity, plus it is just a ton of fun. This great video will show you how you can set up your own miniature splash studio at home using just your normal gear and a couple of items you likely already have laying around the house.

Helpful Tips for Posing Couples Who Aren't Models in Engagement Photos

Posing can be a difficult skill for a lot of photographers to master, and of course, it can twice as tricky when you add in a second person. If posing couples is something you need to work on, this fantastic video will give you tons of helpful advice for posing couples for engagements photos.

Same Quality at Half the Size: How Good Is Canon's New Compressed Raw Format?

The majority of photographers shoot raw files because the larger file sizes over JPEG are offset by the big gains in post-processing flexibility. Nonetheless, companies are always doing what they can to give photographers options for smaller file sizes with minimal quality loss, with the latest from Canon being the Compressed Raw format on their new mirrorless cameras. This great video takes a look at how these files hold up against traditional raw files and if you should switch the feature on.

5 Common Mistakes Beginners Make When Using Lightroom

Lightroom is an intricate program, and for many photographers, it serves as the central hub for their images, making it crucial that you develop good habits in how you use the application. This excellent video discusses five common mistakes beginners make when using Lightroom and what you can do to improve your workflow.

How to Retouch a Portrait From Start to Finish in Photoshop

Posing, lighting, and shooting a portrait is only half the process of creating a successful image. To create a truly polished photo, you have to have the retouching skills to match. This excellent video tutorial will show you the full process of editing a portrait using Photoshop.

5 Simple but Effective Cinematography Techniques

So much of successful video is the marriage of technical abilities and creative vision to augment the events on screen in a way that increases the viewer's engagement. This fantastic video tutorial will show you five simple cinematography techniques to improve your video work.

How Do Scientists Actually Create Images of the Coronavirus?

The coronavirus has caused a massive pandemic across the world, and yet, the virus itself, like any, is absolutely tiny, with a diameter of about 120 nanometers (or about .000004724 inches). It is so small, in fact, that traditional imaging techniques cannot resolve it. So, how do scientists create crucial images of the virus to better understand it and lead the fight against it? This excellent video will show you the science behind creating those images.

How to Find Compositions in Landscape Photography

Composition is a nuanced and subtle thing, and any single landscape scene can give you a wide variety of possible images. If composition is something you struggle with a bit, this excellent video tutorial will give you some helpful advice for how to compose your landscape images.

Learn How to Create This Fantastic Portrait With Just One Light

A lot of more advanced portrait styles require the use of multiple lights to fully craft the images, but you might be surprised by how much you can still accomplish with just a single light. This great video tutorial will show you how to light and shoot this eye-catching black and white portrait using only a single strobe.

A Look at the New Tamron 70-180mm f/2.8 Di III VXD Lens

The 70-200mm f/2.8 is a staple lens for many photographers across a wide range of genres, but such lenses are rarely cheap to come by. If you are looking for a more affordable alternative, check out this great review of the new and highly anticipated Tamron 70-180mm f/2.8 Di III VXD lens.

10 Fun and Creative Photo Ideas You Can Try at Home

With most of us stuck at home at the moment, it can be a bit frustrating trying to exercise your creativity and keep your skills sharp. If you are looking for something to do with your camera during this downtime, this fantastic video will give you 10 great ideas for fun photos you can set up and try at home.

Helpful Tips on Posing for Self-Portraits

With all the lockdowns across the world due to the coronavirus pandemic, quite a few photographers have been left without subjects to shoot. If you want to keep shooting, you might have considered turning to self-portraits but be at a loss for how to pose yourself. If you are struggling with that, this fantastic video tutorial features professional models giving a range of helpful tips for posing in self-portraits.