You might not know who Candide Thovex is now, but trust me, by the time you finish this article, you will probably be more than a little in awe of him. His latest video is averaging 1.5 million hits a day and counting since going live last week. It could easily be the single best action spots video we’ll see all year. Today, I’ll break down why I think it’s so successful, and how we can apply the same techniques to our own work.

I’m calling it. This commercial for Volvo Trucks that came out today is the best commercial of 2013. What makes it – or other commercial shoots - so successful? Beautiful, simple ideas, a great concept, seamless execution, a bit of good old nostalgia and a pinch of the unexpected all mix beautifully to give us 70 seconds of pure brilliance. With four eight twelve twenty four thirty million views and counting, let's take a look and see why this ad has been so successful.

It's not very often that I watch a video online and react by literally gasping and audibly saying "wow." Watching Captain America stare down Thanos and his whole army, in an IMAX cinema, on a huge screen, was the last time I reacted in such a way. This time, even without the huge screen, resolution, and quality, this video is simply incredible.

It seems like everyone and their accountants have known someone who had the inside scoop on the details surrounding the highly anticipated GoPro 4. Every week, Facebook feeds would explode with the latest outlandish rumors, getting even the most tepid of us excited. Well, these latest rumors may in fact be the real deal.

In just over a week this film has received well over 250,000 views on Vimeo and Youtube, and seems to be going viral on Facebook right now. Nathanael Matanick, also known as "Heschle", has pulled together an incredibly emotional story to bring awareness to the importance of the foster program, and the need for quality foster parents. Please dedicate 13 minutes of your day to watch this straight through without interruption, and I suggest in full screen mode.

In what surely must be one of the highest budget-to-film-length ratios in history, Airbus put five of its brand-new 300 million dollar A350 XWB planes together for a photoshoot. While most of the clips last only a few seconds, the amount of planning and preparation to pull something like this off is just staggering. With two chase planes, five hero planes, and the stakes as high as ever, watch how Airbus plans and pulls off this truly epic feat of filming and aviation.

Best idea ever? The crew over at Droptree Productions took every chance on breaks and in between takes to capture clips for a ridiculous (and amazing) music track, just for funsies. And we love funsies. It's not just a lip dub of a popular track either, it's all about film production and has everything from a fresh beat to a rippin' guitar solo from a dude with a giant beard. Stop what you're doing and watch this.

There is a good chance this video will make you jump. You may even pee your pants just a little. The REMUS SharkCam equipped with GoPro cameras gives us a clear view of what it would be like to be attacked by a great white. Watching this video I couldn't help but appreciate how cameras have opened the world to us. How else could we experience something like this...

The next time you're having a rough day thinking about how all your photography is looking the same, the competition is stiff, and bookings are down, remember that there are photographers out there taking pictures exclusively of the male anatomy and translating those into $10,000 limited edition prints.

It's hard to imagine someone not describing what Sergeant Larry Reid Jr. does as a dream job. Once you see what he does, the images he captures and the joy on his face as he explains his process, part of you (no matter who you are) kind of wishes you were him. With two cameras strapped around his neck firing shots off while his pilot banks at seven G's, Sergeant Reid is living the dream.

Awesome is what happens. We have all seen the yummy slow motion footage that comes out of cameras like the Phantom, but what the Bolt High Speed Cinebot has done is integrate a precise (and repeatable) movement into those images. Imagine a giant robotic arm with a camera on the end, and you at the controls.

As 2013 comes to an end, many of us are starting to think about fresh starts and goals for the New Year. For most, 2014 will mean expanding and upgrading gear or even taking a leap of faith. Personally, I’ve taken a very counter-intuitive leap of faith. I sold the most expensive video asset that I've ever had: My RED Scarlet.

A professional photographer came forward on Reddit with a real rant about the photography industry. It's causing a stir amongst photographers everywhere - perhaps because he makes some great points! When I read this post I found that I was agreeing with a great deal of what he had to say.

Filmmaker Mark Bone has just discovered that some free software from Sony can stabilize footage from his FX9 to the point that he’s wondering how often he will ever need to use a gimbal in the future. Check out this short video.

At the time of writing this post it is a gorgeous spring day and I have no doubt our readers are out shooting and enjoying it. If you have opted to stay in, these six videos provided by Lastolite and taught by the best-in-our-business Joe McNally are what you should be watching... no studying. Seriously. If you absorb every bit of information/advice in these videos you will be a better photographer than you are right now.

You may have seen some of the hoopla over the Insta 360 Sphere. It's a 360-degree camera that mounts on two popular drones, the DJI Air 2S and its predecessor, the Air2. So, what is it exactly?

Demi Lovato is finally at a place in her life where she is comfortable with the skin she is in, and Vanity Fair photographer Patrick Ecclesine was there to capture this very personal and very public experience.

It seems you can’t go a day or two without seeing a new time-lapse film of the Northern Lights. And while beautiful, it has become incredibly difficult for photographers and filmmakers to raise the bar on this much captured phenomenon. That was until Ole C. Salomonsen threw his hat in the ring.

Television studio cameras are massive when compared with any DSLR photography setup and are even bigger than most cinematography rigs. Check out this video for a fantastic breakdown of why they tend to be so large and cumbersome.

Patrick and I have been in Iceland for 2 weeks with Elia Locardi filming our next tutorial on landscape/travel photography. We brought a truck-load of gear with us but our favorite piece has been our DJI phantom quadcopter. Here's a quick cut of our best drone footage in Iceland.

The influence video has on social media and marketing is greater than ever and still growing. Here are 11 easy trick for improving your video editing in Premiere Pro.

Yesterday we released the iPhone Bikini Shoot, a video in which I do a professional quality photoshoot with minimal gear. The point of the video wasn't to say that the iPhone was a better camera than a professional DSLR, it was meant to inspire photographers to use the gear they currently own to create beautiful images. Obviously the iPhone is infinitely worse than any current DSLR for stills but surprisingly it appears to be a far better video camera than my $3000 DSLR when there is enough light present.

Dear oh dear Canon what have you done? On the back of perhaps its most underwhelming release this century, things just go from bad to worse for its new mirrorless camera.

Youtube user Tatia Pllieva produced a video with WREN Studio in which 20 strangers were coupled together and asked to kiss for the first time. This 3 and a half minute video had my attention from the beginning all the way until the end, no questions asked. Things got awkward. Things got hot. Things got awesome.

This industry is infamous for having a low average wage, particularly if you're a self-employed photographer or videographer. However, there are plenty of people earning a good wage, and here are 10 ways you can too, with examples of videographers who are already doing it.

Get ready to leave your jaw on the floor. Brain Farm Cinema, the production company that is one of the global leaders for capturing ultra high quality, pioneering action sports and documentary cinematic digital video, has done something no one else has. They have just released this stunning footage showing what happens when you strap a very expensive high speed cinema camera, to a very expensive drone, and fly around trying not to have a $250,000 mishap. The footage is glorious, and is .

At Monday’s WWDC keynote, Apple announced the latest iteration of the iPad Pro, leading with a 75 second commercial that is as slick as one would expect with any Apple product launch. The iPad Pro will sell by the bucketload no doubt, but “Any Given Wednesday,” directed by Leonardo Dalessandri, is worthy of recognition itself as a supreme piece of commercial filmmaking.

As a working photographer, my gear is obviously very important to me. My most-used lenses, Canon’s 35L and 50L, are both long time favorites and are glued to my camera almost 24/7. For many reasons, I’ve been a fan of Canon’s prime lenses for a number of years, taking both the good, the bad, and the price tag that they each have to offer. When something new like the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 comes up I, like most of us, give it a quick once-over and then head back to the comfort of our expensive name brand gear.

2 planes carrying 9 skydivers accidentally collide in mid air. Many of the skydivers have GoPro Cameras rolling and they capture the collision, the explosion, and the aftermath from multiple angles at the same time. Shockingly everyone survived, even the pilots.

'Boyhood', a soon-to-be-released movie is doing something that was never attempted by a major film before. Filmmaker Richard Linklater made a movie about growing up and decided it would be interesting to film it using the same actors for all stages of the story and therefore it took 12 years to complete. The youngest actor was 7 when filming started in 2002, and 19 years old when they finished.

One of the most complex areas about retouching beauty shots is definitely fixing hair. If you see any editorial or advertisement that has perfect hair, you can be rest assured that there was some retouching involved. Although this isn't the only way to retouch hair, the guys at FX-Ray put together a good video showcasing some tips and tricks. There are definitely many methods of doing it, but this should come in handy for the common trouble areas.

Ocean drones have been around for a while, but unlike their aerial siblings, they don't see quite as much use. They are, however, conducting important work and one has recently achieved a world first by filming inside a hurricane at sea.

Everyone loves Ikea. Don't try to fight it; you know you do! They have everything you could possibly need for your home and also those Swedish Meatballs. But have you ever thought of all the things you can buy to create DIY softboxes and beauty dishes? Check out this video for six tips to help save money (and give you a valid excuse to shop at Ikea).

Anyone who has ever been to New York City remembers their first impression, amazement, and awe. Photographer Michael Shainblum credits this feeling as one of the main reasons he got into photography in the first place. You will be glad he did when you check out this amazing three-minute tribute to the city that never sleeps.

The video quality a smartphone is able to produce these days is so good that you can use it for a lot more than just vacation memories. If you want to take it to the next level, here are five tricks to make your iPhone videos stand out without spending more than a couple of bucks.

With a world full of options, why might you choose a cinema camera instead of opting for a mirrorless camera for video productions?

ESPN's Body Issue 2014 is out -- and the results are stunning. Every one of the 59 images in the "Bodies We Want" piece is a beautiful portrait of the pinnacle of the human form. There is no doubt these are professional atheletes with perfect, sculpted bodies. No puffed-up editing, no extraneous fluff. This is the real deal: clean, sharp, and on point. Oh, and did I mention there's a BTS video? No, wait. There are 13 BTS videos featuring the likes of Jamie Anderson, Michael Phelps, Venus Williams and many others.

Days of preparation, hundreds of people, and 57 Profoto strobes culminated in just five minutes and forty-two seconds of fast-paced shooting. In photographer Art Streiber’s own words, “it was pretty huge, and a little out of control.” I’ll say. In an Fstoppers exclusive, we go behind the scenes of one of the largest and most sensitive group photo shoots ever undertaken with 116 of Hollywood’s greatest stars on one stage at one time to celebrate Paramount Studio’s 100th anniversary.

We posted a set of videos released by Pathé News, part of their 85,000 reels released, but this one really stood out to me- it's hilarious. I'll add that I've taught and taken quite a few photo workshops in my day, but I would kill to know what that instructor was saying to his students and the models. Let's break this video down shall we?

When winter hit and weddings and senior portraits weren't generating any income, Michael Sasser decided to expand his reach by adding boudoir style photography to his repertoire. If you're looking for a way to increase your business through the slow months, this might be just the thing for you. In this interview, Michael explains how his new sessions have been working out.

There is something magical about having your 2D photos seem like they're actually 3D. It brings them to life in a way none other method can. The depth, the complexity and the subtle movements give your regular 2D photos more meaning and context, and it makes the viewer focus on the image much more than normal. Joe Fellows is a master of the 2.5D (Parallax) Effect and in this short video he shows you everything you need to know to make this effect yourself on your own images.

Following several recent similar incidents with drones flying much higher than the FAA-mandated 400-foot recreational altitude, another incident occurred Monday as a Southwest passenger jet attempted to land. The pilot reported flying just under what seemed to be a red recreational helicopter drone at 4,000 feet: "Hey, there was just one of those radio-controlled helicopter things that went right over the top of us at 4,000."

This is not an educational piece or a product review. This is also not a post showing the creative and artistic work done by people in the industry. It is just a post about a very unique use of the GoPro camera. While it is not creative, artistic or educational, it is very important to watch this video. It shows us what news cameras will never be able to show: the real POV of the war in Syria.

Oregon based photographer and filmmaker Ben Canales decided to take his shiny new iPhone 6 Plus to the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains to create a short film to show off the power of the new pop tart sized phablet. The resulting footage is great, but is Ben in fear of losing some business to iPhone cinematographers?

What happens when you take a technology from the early 90's and use it in your photography business in 2014? Just ask Jeffrey Bennett, a professional wedding photographer based in Detroit who in 2011 decided to start producing GIF animations for each one of his engagement sessions and wedding nights, which resulted in many happy clients, a lot of interest from potential clients and of course beautiful results he can then share online.