One of the Holy Grail quests for astrophotographers is the search for dark skies. Few of us are fortunate enough to live in ideal dark skies, but most of us are mobile enough to get to somewhere better than the center of an urban area.

I bet you've always wanted to hold the crispiest glass yourself. Kai Wong is here with his selection of the ultimate lenses for Nikon full-frame cameras. Well, we have a couple of lists ready to compare Wong's choices with some other usual suspects. This is some expensive glass, and perhaps not surprisingly, most of the lenses in this list are prime lenses in the 50-100mm focal range. However, we've also compiled a list of our top choices according to your subject. But let's start by checking out Kai Wong's latest video.

During our 2014 Fstoppers Workshops in the Bahamas students had the privilege of watching 10 successful photographers share their top photographic techniques. Commercial and celebrity portrait photographer Michael Grecco taught classes on environmental portraiture and sexy swimwear photography, so of course we thought it would be awesome to tag along as Michael explained some of the tips that make his portraits so unique.

Thomy Keat is a photographer based in Paris. Although corporate photography makes up much of his job, Keat says street photography is “the thing that makes me want to keep doing what I do as a professional photographer.” Pulling strong stylistic influence from his commercial work, Keat’s street photography is full of contrast, bold lines and repeated colors.

In this behind the scenes video shot by Cinepro Studios, we see Michael Sasser working with a High School student to shoot her senior portraits. With only a bounce card held by an assistant, he is able to capture some stunning images, and the video does a very nice job balancing shots of the location and setup, with the stills that were taken during the session to give the audience a better idea of what the photographer was working with.

Up until now we've talked mostly about how to shift your thinking away from the unfortunate standard of the professional artist. However, we can't really talk about how to build a thriving business without addressing the stretches when nobody is walking through the door. In fact, many of us are probably running head first into that season right now.

Canon SLRs are known for their high quality video and that did not go unnoticed by the videographers behind the latest box office smash hit "Marvel's The Avengers." The Canon EOS 5D MKII and the EOS 7D were selected as the stunt and action cameras that shot the outrageous scenes. The Canon cameras were perfect for capturing "intense action and visual effects" which "required close-quarter action work with unrepeatable stunts."

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has leapt into photography, and as usual, Olympus cameras lead the way with these new technologies. Great for enticing new photographers into our art, it simplifies capturing images. However, as AI takes its first big steps into photography, will it boost overall sales?

Cale Glendening is a director and cinematographer that recently released this new piece that is a must see. As he puts it, “ It speaks to all avenues of passionate endeavors and the common thread of desire, determination and relentless pursuit it takes to see them through.” No matter what you invest yourself in creatively, you identify with the determination required to keep pushing to attain your goals.

Have you ever wondered why some photographers have excellent photo-taking skills but can’t seem to get any business? Or perhaps you've noticed some photographers don’t seem to have adept technical skills but are getting a bunch of business. This may be why.

It all started with a conversation between filmmaker Justin Gustavision and I this past Friday. Justin works for Nadus Films who just released a brilliant award-winning documentary “BBoy For Life” which shows how break dancing has provided teenagers a way out of Guatemalan gang life. The film has been picked up by Starz and Discovery Channel, yet their social media presence could be considered dry, when it should be arousing a well-deserved tornado of hype.

I believe one of the best ways we can stay motivated as artists is to study the art and words of some of the legends of our craft. Inspired by the words of Henri Cartier-Bresson, film maker Eli Sinkus of 522Productions.com put together this short 2-minute film which I loved. While it is important to take lots of photos, as photographers we need to remember that sometimes we should put the camera down and enjoy moments as well. Read on to learn about one that I experienced this past week while on vacation.

Adobe has updated Premiere Pro, After Effects, and Premiere Rush with a number of new features and improvements.