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Alex Cooke
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Articles written by Alex Cooke

How to Light an Outdoor Portrait With Natural Light and Flash

Learning flash can feel daunting, but once you get the basics down, you will find that you can tackle a much wider range of creative needs. One of those fundamental skills is balancing flash and natural light, and this excellent video tutorial will show you the ins and out of doing that to create a compelling portrait.

How to Remove Overexposed Hot Spots on a Subject Using Photoshop

Hot spots can be quite frustrating, as they can be a significant distraction on an otherwise compelling photo and are not particularly easy to remove. It is not impossible to get rid of them, though. This awesome video tutorial will show you everything you need to know to even out those hot spots using Photoshop.

Two Common Photography Pricing Mistakes

Pricing is one of the trickiest aspects of being a professional photographer, and there are no hard and fast rules on how to go about setting yours to ensure you bring in the most income from your work. Nonetheless, there are some important principles every photographer should understand. This helpful video tutorial features an experienced pro discusses two common pricing mistakes photographers make and how to fix them.

An Ode to the Canon EF-M Mount

Long before the RF mount was even a gleam in Canon's collective eye, they had another mirrorless system: the EF-M mount. Though the mount never really caught on like the RF mount did, it was passionately supported by a group of loyal photographers who loved its small size and surprisingly affordable and capable lenses. Unfortunately, the EF-M mount has now left us, but this great video essay takes a look at the history of the system and why photographers loved it.

How to Use Lightroom's Powerful New Point Color Tool

In the past few years, Lightroom has undergone some major revisions and has emerged with some powerful new tools that make it a far more capable image-editing application than in past years. One of its newest features is Point Color, which gives you far more control for editing the colors in an image, and this excellent video tutorial will show you everything you need to know about how the tool works and how to use it on your own photos.

How to Light a Green Screen

The green screen effect (sometimes known as "chroma keying") is a useful tool for making easy composites. However, getting a clean effect takes very careful and precise lighting. If you find yourself struggling to get it just right, check out this helpful video tutorial that will show you how to properly light a green screen along with some common mistakes and how to fix them.

Four Useful Two-Light Portrait Photography Setups

It is important to start learning artificial light with a single source, as this will allow you to better understand the properties and fundamental behavior of light. Once you have mastered that, though, adding a second light will open up a lot of creative possibilities that simply would not be achievable otherwise. This fantastic video tutorial features an experienced studio photographer sharing four effective two-light setups for working with models.

6 Harsh Truths About Photography

Photography can be a tremendously rewarding hobby or profession, but it is important that you have a realistic understanding of what it is like to be a photographer and what it takes to find success. This important video essay features an experienced photographer discussing six harsh truths that every person should be aware of.

Important Advice for Landscape Photographers

Whether you are a professional or a hobbyist, photography is a complicated craft that takes a wide range of skills in order to find success. While we spend a lot of time studying things like exposure settings and editing techniques, there are some other topics that do not get the attention they deserve. This fantastic video essay features an experienced landscape photographer offering a nice range of important advice that will help you improve your images.

5 Helpful Tips for Flash Photography at a Wedding Reception

Lighting a wedding reception can be a real challenge, as you are often working in less-than-ideal environments and have to keep responding to dynamically evolving conditions, which can make it a bit intimidating for many photographers. If you would like to improve your images, check out this fantastic video tutorial that features an experienced wedding photographer sharing five tips that will help you take better control of your reception lighting.

Why You Should Become Your Own Photography Customer

Whether you are a professional or a hobbyist, going through a period where you are not feeling creatively inspired can be incredibly frustrating. So, what can you do to break out of that and get back to making photos that make you and your clients happy? Sometimes, the best solution is to become your own customer.

How to Light a Portrait Using a Speedlight

While learning artificial lighting can feel a bit daunting, it makes you a far more versatile photographer and frees you up to explore many creative avenues that would not be possible otherwise. You do not need to start with expensive equipment, though; a speedlight and small modifier are a portable and affordable way to learn. This excellent video tutorial will show you everything you need to know to photograph a portrait using a speedlight.

A Review of the Affordable Viltrox AF 28mm f/1.8 Lens

Viltrox has continued to gain a reputation as a manufacturer of lenses with performance and image quality of levels far above what their affordable prices imply. The AF 28mm f/1.8 looks to continue that tradition by offering a versatile focal length in tandem with a wide maximum aperture at a price less than half that of many first-party options, and this great video review takes a look at if it can live up to that promise.

A Review of the Impressive Sony FE 35mm f/1.4 GM Lens

35mm lenses with wide maximum apertures are highly popular, as they can adeptly handle a huge range of scenarios and creative needs, ranging from weddings to astrophotography and much more. For Sony users who want one of the best options out there, the FE 35mm f/1.4 GM promises spectacular performance and image quality. Can it live up to that in real-world usage? This great video review takes a look at what you can expect.

A Comparison of the Apple iPhone 15 and Google Pixel 8 Smartphones

The Apple iPhone 15 and Google Pixel 8 are two of the most exciting phones on the market, offering photographers and filmmakers loads of advanced capabilities sure to satisfy the needs of many creatives. Which phone is right for you? This awesome video review takes a look at the two phones to help you choose.

What Kind of Cameras Was Canon Making 25 Years Ago?

Camera technology was in a very different place in 1998, and it was quite an exciting time, as it seemed like every month brought another major leap forward in digital technology. The PowerShot Pro70 was one of the company's first bridge cameras, coming two years before the release of the D30, their first in-house DSLR. How did this extremely early digital camera perform? This neat video review takes a look at the historical camera.

A Review of the Tamron 17-50mm f/4 Di III VXD Lens

Tamron has become one of the industry's most respected lens manufacturers in recent years, creating lenses that push the boundaries of design and others that offer very practical capabilities at competitive prices. One of the latter type is the new 17-50mm f/4 Di III VXD, which offers a nice range of focal lengths sure to please landscape photographers. This great video review takes a look at the sort of performance and image quality you can expect from it in usage.

A Review of the Insanely Wide 7artisans Photoelectric 9mm f/5.6 Lens

Mirrorless mounts have allowed the creation of increasingly lens designs, and as such, we have seen more and more rectilinear full frame lenses that push to wider and wider focal lengths, including single-digit focal lengths. One such example is the 7artisans Photoelectric 9mm f/5.6, which offers people like landscape and architectural photographers a unique field of viewer that inspires creativity. Can it offer the performance and image quality to match? This great video review takes a look at what you can expect.

The Canon EOS R1 Flagship Mirrorless Camera Is on Its Way

The Canon EOS R1 has been in the pipeline for a few years now, and with the standards set by cameras like the Sony a1 and Nikon Z9, many users are excitedly waiting to see what kind of technology Canon will put in its flagship mirrorless camera. Thankfully, it looks like we're inching closer to learning just what the company will offer.

7 Helpful Tips for Better Landscape Photography

Landscape photography is a challenging genre that requires a wide range of technical and creative skills, a lot of perseverance, and often, just a bit of luck. If you would like to improve your landscape work, check out this helpful video tutorial that features an experienced photographers sharing seven useful tips sure to put you on the track to better photos.