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Alex Cooke
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Articles written by Alex Cooke

Video Shows Family With Five Children Barely Escaping Train During Photoshoot

We hear all the time about how dangerous train tracks are to photographers (or anyone) and why you should never trespass on them. This harrowing video highlights that, as it shows a family engaged in a photoshoot barely making it off the tracks before a train came speeding through the scene.

Why Leaf Shutters Are Sometimes Preferable to Focal Plane Shutters

Focal plane shutters are by far the most common mechanism for controlling exposure times, but leaf shutters are still around and preferred by some photographers, particularly when it comes to working with flash. This excellent video will show you the advantages of a leaf shutter when working with a strobe.

Why You Should Consider Using a Pen Tablet Instead of a Mouse

Pretty much everybody learns how to edit photos using a mouse, but as a photographer becomes more advanced, they will often switch to using a pen tablet to work on their images. If you have not yet made the switch, this helpful video will show you seven reasons why you might want to consider picking up a tablet for your editing work.

Canon L Versus Sigma Art Lenses: Which Are Right for You?

Canon's L lenses are considered some of the best out there by many professionals, but they are also on the more expensive side of things. On the other hand, Sigma's Art lenses typically come in at about half the price of their Canon equivalents, making them an intriguing alternative for many shooters. How do they compare to their Canon counterparts? This great video takes a look at a few common focal lengths to answer that question.

Should You Use Dodging and Burning or Frequency Separation for Retouching Images?

Dodging and burning and frequency separation are two of the most commonly used techniques for retouching skin, but they both have their own sets of pros and cons that may make one or the other the better choice for your own work. This excellent video will show you the results you can achieve with both methods and will detail what it is like working with them.

How to Find the Best Composition in Landscape Photography

A good landscape scene often affords a wide variety of potential compositions, and it can be difficult to know how to evaluate them all and find the one that will create the best photo. If that is something you struggle with, this excellent video will give you some helpful tips for finding the best compositions for your landscape images.

Is Nikon's 58mm f/0.95 Lens Worth Its $8,000 Price Tag?

The Nikon NIKKOR Z 58mm f/0.95 S Noct is a fantastic lens with a stratospheric price tag to match. What is it like to shoot with, and is the image quality worth the price? This great video answers those questions.

This Is How Much Work It Takes to Make a YouTube Video

Consistently crafting compelling, professionally produced, and innovative YouTube content is no small feat, and you might be surprised by just how much work goes into even the smallest and most straightforward videos. This fascinating video takes a look behind the scenes at just what goes into making a YouTube video and the difficulties encountered along the way.

A Review of the Nikon D780 Camera

The Nikon D780 is fresh on the scene, and it brings with it a bevy of improvements and new features over its predecessor that are sure to intrigue a lot of Nikon shooters looking for a reasonably priced full frame camera that can handle a range of scenarios competently. If you are considering purchasing one, this great video review will tell you what you can expect.

How to Retouch a Photo Using Dodging and Burning

There is a multitude of advanced retouching tools and techniques out there for working on portraits, but believe it or not, many of the world's top retouchers prefer a much simpler technique: dodging and burning. This excellent video tutorial will show you how to use dodging and burning for retouching skin in Photoshop.

Stop Worrying and Shoot What You Want to in Photography

There is a lot of pressure to conform to certain styles, techniques, subject matter, and manners of shooting in photography, but at the end of the day, you answer to yourself and no one else. If you struggle with this, you should watch this thought-provoking video that discusses the importance of staying true to yourself as a photographer.

Just How Powerful Is 5.5K Raw Video on the Canon 1D X Mark III?

The Canon 1D X Mark III made quite the splash when it was announced, with numerous head-turning features sure to please many professionals. Perhaps one of the most impressive is the new 5.5K raw video capability (at 60 fps no less) using the full width of the sensor. This great video takes a look at using the new feature in a low-light scenario.

Should You Invest in Gear, Marketing, or Education?

Photography is certainly not a cheap endeavor, and it can be difficult to know where to invest your money to maximize your chances of success. Gear is undoubtedly fun, but there is more to success than just that new camera, and this great video explores where you should consider investing your money beyond just equipment.

5 Common Landscape Photography Mistakes

Landscape photography is a genre that takes the confluence of many factors to create a successful image, and a mistake in any of those factors can throw off the entire process. This excellent video discusses five common mistakes landscape photographers make and how you can fix them.

Why Are Expensive Cameras Missing These Features?

Top of the line cameras often have some really impressive specs and capabilities, but they also often lack some fairly straightforward features for seemingly strange reasons. Why is that? This great video explores the topic.

How Good Is the New Nikon D780?

The Nikon D750 has been a highly regarded camera for quite some time, and its successor, the D780 builds on that legacy. With a highly practical and balanced feature set, it looks quite capable of satisfying the needs of a wide range of shooters. This excellent video review takes a comprehensive look at the new DSLR to help you decide if it is right for you.

How to Combine Multiple Catalogs in Lightroom

As your career progresses and you accumulate more and more images, you will be more likely to start breaking off into multiple Lightroom catalogs. Eventually, however, you might need to recombine catalogs. This excellent video will show you how to combine multiple Lightroom catalogs while ensuring that everything stays the way it should.