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Alex Cooke

Cleveland, OH
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Articles from Alex Cooke

Essential Apps to Improve Your Landscape Photography

Arriving at a photography location unprepared is frustrating, especially when the light or weather refuses to cooperate. Thankfully, several apps can significantly improve your planning, making the most of any location.

Fstoppers Photographer of the Month (April 2025): Eden Antho

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 2025, 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.

Subtle Techniques to Perfect Your Images with Radial Filters

Radial filters can dramatically enhance your images, creating soft, natural effects that subtly draw attention or gently shift the mood. This tool allows you to shape viewer perception without resorting to heavy-handed editing techniques.

What Canon Might Bring Next: Real Conversations From the Source

Anthony Gugliotta had the opportunity to sit down with Canon's development team to suggest improvements and discuss the future of their cameras and lenses. These insights hint at possible upgrades and changes you might see soon in Canon’s equipment.

Effective Ways to Refocus Your Photography and Reach Your Goals

Improving your photography isn't just about technical skills—it's about clearing away distractions and reconnecting with your passion. Understanding what genuinely inspires your creativity is vital for growth and authenticity in your work.

How to Master Portraits Using Only Two Lenses

Your camera gear doesn't define how good you are at taking portraits, but the lenses you pick do matter—a lot. Choosing the right lenses affects your flexibility and helps shape your distinct style as a portrait photographer.

Infrared Photography: How to Reveal Hidden Landscapes

Infrared photography lets you see landscapes through an entirely new perspective, capturing scenes invisible to your naked eye. It allows you to transform ordinary scenes into visually striking images that reveal hidden contrasts and textures.

Stop Believing These Common Photography Myths

Many beliefs about photography hold you back more than you realize. Breaking free from common myths can unlock creativity, making photography more enjoyable and your images more compelling.

10 Lesser-Known Things Every New Photographer Needs to Learn

Your entry into photography might feel like a massive ocean of techniques, gear choices, and social media comparisons. Most people talk about shutter speed, aperture, ISO, composition, and basic post-processing. Those topics matter, but they don’t reveal the quieter corners of the craft.

Discover Why OM System Could Be Your Next Camera

Choosing the right camera system can significantly impact your photography experience and results. Understanding what different systems offer beyond the standard choices like Canon, Nikon, and Sony can help you find a setup tailored exactly to your needs.

Seven Essential Photoshop Updates You Need to Know

Adobe just released a significant update to Photoshop, bringing powerful new tools that simplify editing. These changes mean you spend less time struggling with selections and adjustments and more time on your creative vision.

What Does It Actually Mean to Be 'Cinematic'?

The term "cinematic" gets thrown around a lot, often without a clear understanding of what truly defines it. For anyone serious about video production, knowing the elements that genuinely create a cinematic experience is crucial to elevating your work beyond just visually pleasing footage.

Understanding Raw and JPEG for Better Editing

Understanding the differences between raw and JPEG is essential because it shapes your editing options, image quality, and storage requirements. Knowing when and why to choose each format can significantly influence the quality and versatility of your final images.

The Sigma 300-600mm f/4: A Remarkable Lens

When Sigma announced the new 300-600mm f/4 DG OS Sports lens, it quickly caught attention due to its combination of extreme focal length and professional-grade optics. If you're serious about wildlife, sports, or nature photography, a lens like this can transform your approach.

Professional Skin Retouching Made Simple in Lightroom

Retouching portraits often requires complex software and a steep learning curve, but Lightroom can simplify the process significantly. Mastering skin retouching within Lightroom helps streamline your workflow and produces natural, flattering results without additional costs or complexities.

Why Your Best Photos Might Be Imperfect

Wabi-Sabi is a traditional Japanese philosophy that encourages seeing beauty in imperfection, impermanence, and simplicity. This approach can transform how you experience photography, offering depth to the everyday moments you capture.

The Birth of the Digital Camera: From Film to Filmless Revolution

Photography has always been about capturing light to preserve moments. For over a century, that meant exposing a roll of film and then disappearing into a darkroom or waiting for a lab to develop the images. It’s easy to forget how different this process was before digital cameras came along. In the 1970s, the idea of instantly seeing a photo on a screen felt like science fiction. Yet it was in this era of film and chemicals that a young engineer quietly built a device that would change photography forever. What follows is the story of how the first digital camera was invented and how it transformed the way we take and share photos.

Zeiss vs. Viltrox: Is Premium Always Better?

When photographers debate lens quality, few brands stir up as much discussion as Zeiss. The Zeiss 55mm f/1.8, despite being over a decade old, still attracts plenty of attention—and debate.

Why Your Photography Should Avoid the Obvious

William Eggleston famously described himself as being "at war with the obvious," a compelling concept for any photographer to consider. Exploring what exactly counts as obvious—and why steering clear of it might make your work stand out—can help you create photographs people remember.

Effective Ways to Clearly Communicate Your Photography Ideas

One of the toughest parts of photography isn’t mastering camera settings or lighting setups—it’s actually about keeping the person you're photographing engaged. Your excitement doesn't automatically transfer, so learning how to clearly convey your ideas becomes essential.