Articles written by Alex Cooke

In tandem with shutter speed and ISO, aperture is one of three fundamental exposure parameters that grant you the technical and creative control over your images that you bought a specialized camera for in the first place. If you are new to photography and wondering what aperture is and how it works, check out this great video tutorial that will give you a practical guide to using it for taking better control of your photos.

Creating successful portraits is a complex task that requires a lot of specialized knowledge and techniques, but just like any other genre of photography, having a complete mastery of lighting is near the top of the list of requirements. If you would like to improve your portraits, check out this fantastic video tutorial that will show you four lighting secrets that will put you on the right track.

While there are a lot of differences between video and photography, one fundamental truth remains: your lighting makes or breaks your creations. And just like photography, there are some common lighting mistakes that new filmmakers tend to make. This excellent video tutorial will show you 10 such mistakes and what you can do to fix them or avoid them in the first place.

24mm lenses with wide apertures are some of the most versatile out there, offering a reasonably wide (though not overly so) focal length in tandem with a lot of light-gathering and subject-isolating power. The Canon RF 24mm f/1.8 Macro IS STM takes that versatility and adds in macro capabilities and image stabilization, making it quite the intriguing option. This excellent video review takes a look at the lens and the sort of performance and image quality you can expect from it in practice.

Wedding photography generally requires at least two and often several lenses to get through the entire day, and as such, any lens that can take the place of a few offers a significant increase in convenience. The Tamron 35-150mm f/2-2.8 Di III VXD is one such lens, and with its tremendous focal length range and wide aperture, it looks like a potentially fantastic option for wedding photographers. This great video takes you through a wedding day with the lens to show you how versatile it is.

Shooting with long telephotos lenses is an entirely different experience that requires some specialized techniques and considerations. If you are new to working with those extra-long focal lengths and looking for some helpful advice to ensure you get the best possible shots, check out this fantastic video tutorial that discusses six important lessons.

Most people think of Lightroom as the place for organizing their photos and performing light edits and Photoshop as the destination for more intensive work. However, in the last few years, the former has made some major strides that make it a serious editing tool. This great video tutorial will show you how to use a combination of the new masking features and the brush tool for creating more compelling landscape image edits.

We have gotten to the point where smartphones can create professional-quality photos in a wide array of situations. Google's Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro phones offer some of the best cameras available, and one of their most interesting features is "unblur," which promises to use advanced tech to literally remove the blur from things like faces in photos where the shutter speed was too slow or the subject was moving too much. How well does it actually work, though? This awesome video review takes a look at what you can expect.

Canon has caused a bit of controversy with its stance on third-party lenses, and that has left many users pondering their future relationships with the company. This interesting video features a seasoned Canon user discussing why he has decided to sell his gear.