We’ve all seen the technical diagrams of your compound lenses. And I’m sure you’ve looked inside your camera at least when you’re cleaning your sensor. But to better appreciate how your camera really works, you really need to look at a camera that has suffered the ill fate of being cut in half. Thanks to Wired’s Gadget Lab, we now have such photographic evidence of what our camera and some of our lenses might look like.

Visit the Gallery of Sawn-In-Half Cameras at Wired’s Gadget Labs

Another great article from Digital Photography School (I assure you, I do read other sites, but they have so many good articles).   This article is  about different stances and camera holding techniques that you can use to reduce camera shake.  This isn’t about special lenses or anything - this is purely a techniques article that everyone can use.

Read the Article:  How to Reduce Camera Shake - 6 Techniques

PS - I took a little license with the name of my post for clarity reasons.

Another great post on Digital Photography School: This time, regular contributor, Jim M. Goldstein garnered some advice from DPS readers in a query he did a few weeks ago. He asked readers to post the best advice that we ever received, and he compiled the top ten tips into one nice article with an appropriate title: 10 Favorite “Best Photo Tips”…By You!

Aside from the fact that one of the selected tips was posted by yours truly, it really is a pretty decent list. I would encourage anyone of any level to visit the list and see if there’s some bit of wisdom they can keep in their minds.

Read the full post: 10 Favorite “Best Photo Tips”…By You!

Photography 101, a series of articles at Digital Photography School, is back with it’s fourth installment: Exposure & Stops. As always, Neil Creek shares with us his expertise and wisdom about photography skills and technique. From the article:

In this series, we cover all the basics of camera design and use. We talk about the ‘exposure triangle’: shutter speed, aperture and ISO. We talk about focus, depth of field and sharpness, as well as how lenses work, what focal lengths mean and how they put light on the sensor. We also look at the camera itself, how it works, what all the options mean and how they affect your photos.

It’s a great series that speaks in simple terms and serves as a great starting point, or a refresher, for any photographer, regardless of their skill level. It’s a series I would recommend to anyone.

Read the full article: Photography 101: Exposure & Stops

Thanks to a recent post on Jim M. Goldstein’s Blog, I think I have discovered a new artist to admire - or rather an older artist that I should have discovered a long time ago. Eliot Porter is most known for his nature photography as he was one of the photographers that helped to introduce color film to the world of nature photography from the 1940’s through the 1970s. Apparently, he became widely known in the science world as his photographs were widely recognized in the conservation movement. I’ll be honest, I have only barely scratched the surface of his life and his works, and I don’t know much about him yet. But I have to thank Mr. Goldstein for introducing me to Porter’s work. As I honestly feel that there’s a lot to be learned from past photographic works, this is one artist that I shouldn’t have overlooked in my initial photographic education.

If you are interested in reading more, Jim Goldstein wrote an interesting article, titled “The Subtlety of Greatness and Today’s Loss of Appreciation“.  His article deals mostly in how people so easily overlook the skill of the classic artists, such as Porter, who really pushed the envelope of technology at the time.   His article is definitely worth a read.  There is also a short biography over at the Getty Center’s web site.  and of course, we can’t forget Porter’s Wikipedia Entry.