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Alex Cooke
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Articles written by Alex Cooke

Three Different One-Light Setups Using V-Flats

V-flats are one of the most useful lighting items a studio photographer can have. In fact, they can allow you to create much more complex lighting setups just by shaping a single light. This great video will show you how you can create three different lighting setups using just a single strobe and some v-flats.

How to Make Eyes Pop Using Photoshop

One of the most important aspects of any portrait is the eyes. The eyes are what any viewer is naturally drawn to when looking at an image, and thus, it is worth spending just a little extra time making sure they are just right. This great tutorial will show you a technique for enhancing the eyes in Photoshop.

Shooting NFL Football With the Sony a7R IV

Traditionally, professional sports photographers use top-level cameras with low-to-medium resolution, as these cameras typically have the fastest frame rates, which are needed to capture professional athletes in action. But with Sony putting fast burst rates even in their higher-resolution cameras, sports photographers can now have the best of both worlds. This great video discusses using a Sony a7R IV for NFL football photography.

Flagship Power: A Long-Term Review of the Fuji X-T3

The Fuji X-T3 is one of the latest powerhouses in the company's line of highly popular cameras, and with it comes a plethora of features that have attracted both photographers and videographers. Is it right for you? This great video review takes a very practical look at the camera after long-term usage.

Do You Need to Upgrade? A Comparison of the Sony a7R IV to the a7R III

Sony surprised pretty much everyone when they recently announced the a7R IV, the latest in their line of high-resolution full frame cameras and an update to the a7R III. While the a7R IV has a lot of great features and upgrades, the a7R III is quite the powerhouse itself, and you may be wondering if you need to upgrade. This great video overview discusses the differences between the two and will help you decide which is right for you.

Eight Helpful Tips to Improve Your Photography

We can always do more to improve our photography, and it certainly helps to hear how an established professional thinks we can best accomplish that. This excellent video features a photographer discussing eight tips that will help you improve your photography.

Having Fun With Rare and Unique Ultra-Wide Angle Lenses

The history of camera gear is rich with numerous unique lenses with rare capabilities and interesting designs. This fun video follows a photographer as he tests out several ultra-wide angle lenses.

A Complete Guide to Camera Autofocus Modes

When you are new to photography, there are numerous settings and parameters on your camera that are important to get to know. Amidst things like exposure settings, it can be easy to overlook the importance of really understanding every intricacy of your autofocus settings. This great video will get you up and running in no time.

A Huge Comparison of 85mm Lenses for Sony Full Frame Cameras

If there is one thing Sony shooters certainly do not have a dearth of, it is wide-aperture 85mm lenses. And with all the options, you might be wondering which one is right for you. This excellent and comprehensive video review breaks down the features and pros and cons of each choice.

Trying to Start Your Photography Business? Do These Things First

You can have all the artistic and technical talent in the world, but if you are not a savvy business-person, you are not going to have a lot of luck making a living from photography. This excellent video features an experienced photographer discussing seven things you should do before you start your photography business.

Planning for Autumn Photos

Autumn has arrived here in the Northern Hemisphere, and with it comes the opportunity for vibrant, colorful photos of the changing leaves. It is often just a few weeks that we get with those brilliant colors, however, so it is important to do some scouting and planning to be ready when the times arrives. This great video will give you some helpful tips to be ready to take some excellent images of the fall leaves.

Do You Have a Photographic Nemesis Location?

Do you have a location where it seems no matter what you do, you just can't seem to take a good picture? This great video explores what happens when you have a nemesis location, why you should keep pursuing it, and what you can do to get past your difficulties.

Would You Support a System of Symbols That Disclosed Image Edits?

As post-processing applications become more and more powerful, it is becoming increasingly difficult to trust an image as a relatively honest representation of a scene. Would a set of universal icons that indicated the sort of post-processing that had been done to an image be something you would support? This interesting video takes a look at that possibility.

How Much RAM Do You Need for Lightroom?

Photographers can almost always use more RAM, particularly when they start working with larger and more complex files. How much do you really need for Lightroom, however? This interesting comparison video takes a look at operating times for the application when using 8 GB of RAM versus 32 GB of RAM to see how much more efficiently the program can run with some extra muscle with which to work.

Fstoppers Photographer of the Month (September 2019): Barbara MacFerrin

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 2019, 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.

New to Astrophotography? Here Is What You Need to Know

Astrophotography is a very unique and tricky genre, but if you take the time to dive into it and learn how it is done, you can be rewarded with stunning images of the heavens. If you are interested in astrophotography, this great beginner's guide will answer a lot of questions to help you get you on your way to pointing your camera toward the night sky.

Why Taking the Photo Is the Least Important Step

What is the most important step in the photographic process? Is it sitting at the computer, post-processing your images into perfection? Or is it the act of taking the shot itself? This thought-provoking video investigates that question and posits that when it comes down to it, the act of taking the image is actually the least important of all.

Three-Light Portrait Photography Techniques

Once you have mastered the basics of how artificial lighting works and what you can accomplish with it, it is time to move on to more complicated multi-light setups to better bring your creative ideas to fruition. This great video will show you the process of creating a three-light portrait from start to finish.

A Review of Sigma's 105mm f/1.4 Art Lens

Sigma's Art series of lenses has been a runaway hit, with the line continuing to expand to both new focal lengths and new mounts. One of the newest in the lineup is the 105mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art, and it has been lauded for being incredibly sharp even at its maximum aperture. Is it the right lens for you? This great video review will answer that question.

Adobe Previews Major Update to Content-Aware Fill Tool in Photoshop

Photoshop is an intricate application full of numerous features, and perhaps one of the most powerful of those is Content-Aware fill. Adobe just released a preview of an update to the tool, and it looks like it will make it more powerful and useful for photographers.