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Alex Cooke
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Articles written by Alex Cooke

A Beginner's Guide to the Pen Tool In Photoshop

If you're new to Photoshop, the Pen Tool can make about as much sense as a ketchup-flavored popsicle. Nonetheless, it's one of the most useful tools in the entire program, and it's definitely worth taking the time to learn how to use it. This great tutorial will get you up and running.

Five Beginner Portrait Photography Lighting Tips

One of the biggest leaps you can make as a beginning portrait photographer is taking control of your lighting. It can be daunting at first, but having that skill down is well worth the time and effort. This helpful video will get you started.

Five Tips for Building Your Photography or Videography Brand

Creating a good brand is a tricky and subtle thing, and most of us don't have the benefit of a marketing team at our beck and call. Luckily, there's this helpful video to get you on the right path to having a stronger and more recognizable brand.

A Beginner's Guide to Prime Lenses

When you're just starting out in photography, one of the first things you'll probably wonder about is the difference between prime and zoom lenses. Check out this helpful video that details the characteristics, advantages, and disadvantages of both types.

How the Birth of a Man's Daughter Inspired the Camera Phone

The year was 1997: Celine Dion's heart went on, a sheep named Dolly became the first cloned mammal, and the camera phone was born. See the story of how a man's daughter's birth inspired the invention of one of the most ubiquitous devices in the world.

Six Ways to Make Your Drone Footage More Cinematic

If you've got a drone, you know that it opens up a near-infinite number of new possibilities, but with those also come a unique set of challenges. This quick and helpful video will show you six tips to get more cinematic looking aerial footage.

How to Improve the Sound of Your Speech in Premiere Pro

You can have the most visually stunning videos, but if you sound like you're talking to your audience from two rooms over, they won't be engaged by your work. Here's how to get better-sounding speech in Premiere Pro.

How to Fake a Dolly Zoom in Premiere Pro

If you're a Hitchcock fan, you're no doubt aware of the dolly zoom, also known as the "Vertigo effect." It's dazzlingly disorienting, but it also requires a zoom lens and the physical ability to move the lens in space, things that aren't always simultaneously possible, such as if you're shooting with a drone. Here's how to fake the effect in Premiere Pro.

Using the Lightroom Second Reference Window to Compare Images

If you work in Lightroom quite a bit, I'm sure you've encountered a situation in which you wanted to compare two images or keep one open while working on another. Lightroom offers a few ways to do this, but using the Second Window function might be one of the more helpful ways to do it, particularly if you're working with multiple displays.

Go Behind the Scenes of an Air-to-Air Shoot of a Boeing 787

Have you ever wondered where those amazing air-to-air shots you see in airline marketing videos and the like come from? Go behind the scenes of Wolfe Air Aviation's marketing work with Air Canada for their new livery on the Boeing 787-9 and one of the coolest photoshoots you'll ever see.

Lessons in Filmmaking: Why We Love the Bus Jump in 'Speed'

Ah, the 90s, when if you wanted to jump a bus across a freeway in your movie, you didn't use CGI; you jumped an actual bus. Go behind the scenes of one the most famous stunts in action movie history and learn why we it keeps us on the edge of our seats despite its absurdity.

Realism, Formalism, and the Way Movies 'Should' Be Created

You may not realize it, but your brain is waging a battle against itself every time you watch a film. Every film is its own universe with its own laws, and how those laws compare to those outside that universe determine how your brain interacts with the film and evaluates it against reality. But if you're making your own work, it might be worth stepping outside the norms.

A Beautiful Film Made on a Dirt Cheap Lens

We know, we know: gear doesn't matter, except when it matters. I'm not here to rehash that debate. Rather, this is just a great film that shows off what you can accomplish even with a $50 lens and some know-how.

Five Skills Video Editors Need to Have

Successful video editing is a confluence of creative vision, technical skills, and practical problem solving, so it's no wonder that it takes a lot of dedication and practice to become skilled at it. To help you jumpstart that process, here are five skills you need to have to be a successful video editor.

Check Out These Photo and Video Deals of the Week

This week is an awesome time to check out some of the most popular cameras and lenses out there. Whatever you shoot, B&H has some great deals waiting, including many discounts on camera bodies and lenses.

How to Shoot B-Roll for Your Video Work

B-roll is important stuff. It keeps your viewer's experience from becoming stagnant, and it can be used to explain or elaborate on the main footage. It's entirely its own art to shoot, and this helpful tutorial will give you great tips to get more and better b-roll footage for your video work.

How to Add Convincing Lens Flares to Your Videos

You've fired up Premiere Pro. You've watched the entire JJ Abrams repertoire... twice. You're ready. Here's how to add convincing and tasteful lens flares to your videos.