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Alex Cooke
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Articles written by Alex Cooke

Five Color Grading Mistakes to Avoid in Your Video Work

The color grade is one of the most essential aspects of any bit of video work. Not only does it help provide the finishing touch that makes your work look professional, it's a chance for you to really add your style to your work to develop a signature look that's more memorable. This helpful video details five mistakes to be wary of when you're working on a color grade.

Why Do We Love 'So Bad They're Good' Movies?

Oh hi, Fstoppers readers. Do you have any guilty pleasure movies — films you know are bad that you still enjoy anyway? Ever wonder why it is you enjoy them in spite of their questionable style, dialogue, acting, and/or execution? This great video essay examines why some movies are so bad they're good and how good films take advantage of their hilariously bad qualities.

How to Pre-visualize, Shoot, and Edit a Landscape Photo

Knowing how to visualize a shot in your head before you take it is an important step in the creative process, else you're simply firing off shots and hoping for a good edit to come out of the process. This great video follows a landscape photographer from pre-visualization all the way to printed photo.

How to Add Text to Any Object Using Photoshop

Sometimes, a photo needs a little text to really complete the message or the look, but slapping it on without trying to blend it in just makes it look like a terrible watermark. This fun tutorial will show you how to blend text into whatever object you please to make it look realistic.

Making Your Camera Work Faster With Custom Settings

A lot of photography revolves around your ability to be prepared when the moment strikes and be able to adapt quickly as the scenery and required settings change. One of the best ways to be more efficient and increase your chances of getting the shot is by using custom controls, which this great video goes into detail about.

How to Add a Nice Sunray Effect Using Photoshop

Nothing makes me forget that winter is just starting and I'm basically going to be uncomfortably cold for the next five months like a nice photo of somewhere warm with sun rays peeking through. This fun tutorial will show you a relatively quick and effective way to add sunrays to a photograph.

The Rewards of Patience in Photography

In a lot of genres, you have to shoot quickly and efficiently, lest you'll possibly miss an important shot. In other genres and situations, being in too much of a rush can be what actually causes you to miss the shot or come home with less-than-stellar results. This great video examines the idea of patience.

Facebook's Imperfect Attempt at Preventing Revenge Porn Reveals the Dark Side of a Photo-Laden Future

Facebook recently announced the launch of a new tool aimed at preventing cases of revenge porn, an act in which an ex posts intimate imagery of their former partner without permission in an attempt to humiliate or cause the person serious distress. While obviously well intentioned, the program has a major flaw and highlights a future where photos of every part of our lives will not always be a good thing.

Success as a Creative: The Only Way to Be a Professional Is to Be Professional

There's a certain mysticality that often gets assigned to work as a creative — the gifted artist that somehow conjures genius from thin air. This image is inaccurate at best, and it's downright poisonous for the artist themselves to subscribe to it. Here's how a professional really thinks and works.

A Quick and Easy Way to Enhance Skin Tones Using Photoshop

Whether it's because you're shooting in the dead of winter or just because your model is naturally pale, sometimes, you'll want to add slightly more vibrant tones that give your subject richer skin. This helpful tutorial will show you how to do just that quickly and effectively.

Follow the Re-creation of One of the Most Famous Photographs in History

Philippe Halsman's "Dali Atomicus" is one of the most famous images ever, notable for its complex composition and remarkable timing that captured the soul of its famous subject. This modern re-creation goes to painstaking effort to replicate the original, and the process is very neat to watch.

Why Photography Matters to Us

The one thing that ties us all together here is our passion for photography. For some of us, it's a beloved hobby, while for others, it's a career. This awesome video tells the story of how photography has had a positive impact in one person's life.

Is It Worth Upgrading to the Sony a7R III From the a7R II?

The Sony a7R III is the highly anticipated update to the very popular a7R II. Since it uses the same sensor as its predecessor, it might seem like this is more an incremental release, but this helpful video will highlight the newest and most improved features to help you decide if it's worth the upgrade.

The Importance of Persistence and Effort in Photography

We all like to get results and to know that our efforts have not been for naught. Sometimes, though, getting that killer shot is just not in the cards, often because of forces outside our control, which is when it's important to remember how effort and persistence will eventually pay off.

An Introduction to Creative Portrait Techniques

Half the fun of shooting portraits is the veritable multitude of ways you can use photographic techniques and creative ideas to represent a person. This fun video will show you three such techniques that only require bare-minimum equipment and a subject.

24 Shots: A Fun Exercise to Get You Thinking About Your Photography

When I was a kid, I used to shoot a ton of film, so much that I was eventually given a roll a week by my parents to shoot whatever I cared to. But of course, I had to carefully choose what I shot over the course of each week. The thrill was getting the envelope of prints back from the grocery store a few weeks later. This fun challenge recaptures a lot of that nostalgia and exercises your photographic brain.

Some Handy Hidden Tricks in Lightroom

Lightroom is likely where you spend a lot of, if not the majority of your post-processing time. And so, any little shortcuts or tricks you can pick up can add up to more efficiency and better output down the road. This helpful video will show you five such tricks to add to your arsenal.

Fstoppers Photographer of the Month (October 2017): Mikeila Borgia

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 2017, 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.