Kerry Garrison of cameradojo.com talks about gear, looks at common holiday presents, and talks about what accessories you may need to get next.

In the Comments section below, tell us what photography gear you got, and whether you need help with anything. We'll ask some experts from local camera shops to help you out.

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Have you ever wondered why there are so many amazing videos of Earth from orbit nowadays? The answer is simple: the amazing low-light performance of current DSLR cameras, like the Nikon D3 used by Expedition 29 Commander Mike Fossum.

Watch him explain how he does it to NASA astronaut Mike Massimino on Gizmodo.

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John Kennerdell writes at The Online Photographer that even as an arts and humanities guy, it took him years to appreciate how much of photography turns out to be non-intuitive or even counter-intuitive. The hard part is explaining why.

"While most photographs don't aspire to be art, ultimately their value to us depends on something that art teaches us: direct emotional response."

Great food for thought. Read his entire blog entry here.

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Although Paul Giguere at SeriousCompacts.com says his examination of the compact Ricoh GR Digital IV isn't a full review, his first impression may provide enough insight to help you decide whether this is the camera for you.

He looks at the camera's size, focusing speed, snap focus, image quality, dynamic range, and LCD quality. As a GRD3 owner, he was interested in discovering whether it was worth the extra money to upgrade (a GRD3 is about $380, a GRD4 about $600), and he concluded that it was - for him, anyway.

First impression of the Ricoh GR Digital IV

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By Joanne Rathe
Globe Staff

Christmas morning, opening presents
It’s magic. Christmas morning is full of great expressions and happy moments all ready to unravel in a mostly predictable fashion. It’s what a photojournalist would call a “loaded situation”. Where, basically, you can’t miss – as long as you are ready and anticipate.

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By Paul Marotta
Perfect Bokeh Photography

I think I must have changed my mind at least a dozen times on both the Top 10 and the Top 3 ... so many in the Final 50 had wonderful and redeeming qualities, both in terms of technical characteristics and content.

And in the end, what it should come down to is an image taking the eye directly to the subject matter, not any of the technical issues. If the subject or content is strong enough, has enough meaning, and strikes a response in a viewer, then other things can be overlooked.

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Even though most of you use full-featured DSLRs, many also carry around a compact camera that's more convenient for weddings or other events, easily slipped in your pocket or purse. Some Globe photographers carry a Canon PowerShot G10, G11, or G12; I recently bought a Nikon Coolpix P7100 to go along with my D300.

Or perhaps you're looking for a camera for a relative or friend. This Consumer Reports piece, which ran in the November issue, should help.

By Consumer Reports

If you look closely at the cameras in recent weekend retail circulars, you might be surprised. A lot boast 14 or even 16 megapixels. Camera makers appear to have injected new life into an old marketing scheme: More megapixels mean a better camera.

Consumer Reports’ latest ratings include 58 recommended cameras, from basic to SLR. CR’s camera tests have shown for years that cameras with more megapixels don’t necessarily produce better images than those with fewer. Under the best of circumstances, models with more megapixels can produce images with greater detail, but that’s not very important unless you need giant enlargements.

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By Paul Marotta
Perfect Bokeh Photography

Three rules for Rule of Thirds: Edit in the camera, edit in the camera, and edit in the camera. It is vitally important in photography to pre-visualize, i.e. how and what do you see in a shot or a moment. And, that includes everything from color to emotion to composition and more. And Rule of Thirds is all about composition: Where to position a subject and how to compose a shot are both critical elements to Rule of Thirds.

That being said, there were many extremely lovely images in this round, some that made the Final 50, and some that did not.

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ePHOTOzine says that if your camera already has a built-in flash, you won't get much benefit from this array of LED lights that attaches to the hot shoe on the top of your camera.

But if you don't, or if you're shooting macro or video, it could be a valuable accessory.

Manfrotto ML120 Pocket LED Light Review

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If you're interested in a new compact DSLR, check out the Samsung NX200. Ilse Jurriën reviews the 20.3-megapixel camera at LetsGoDigital, and says it's an improvement over the Samsung NX100 and delivers strong image quality. The camera retails for about $900 and comes with an 18mm-55mm zoom kit lens and on-camera flash. She writes:

"Two months ago, Samsung introduced the successor to the compact Samsung NX100 system camera. The new Samsung NX200 is even more compact than its predecessor, which makes the NX200 system camera very easy to carry around. The lightweight metallic Samsung NX200 is equipped with a new APS-C CMOS sensor with a large ISO range of 100 to 12800. The large sensor can catch more light, so that the amount of noise is reduced and more details are captured. The resolution is increased to 20.3 megapixels. The revolutionary i-Function lens, that was implemented for the first time in the NX100, is also found in the Samsung NX200."

Read the complete review here.

Other Samsung NX200 reviews:

Photography Blog: "A serious investment ... an enticing new entry"

Pocket-lint: Four out of five stars

dpreview: "A significant step up"

ePHOTOzine: "Highly recommended!"

c|net video review: "Promising but pricey"

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Brian Davies, a photographer and retired educator based in Hull in the United Kingdom, is posting tips on the DIY Photography site about how to shoot high-speed photography.

He explains about using a flash unit, event triggers, sound triggers, and the problems with wireless shutter releases.

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(Photo by Aram Boghosian for The Boston Globe)

Young actors at the Lyric Stage in Boston.

We've had a few contests recently where we photographed inanimate objects, so let's return to the realm of the living with this month's theme: Group Portraits. It's the time of year when we gather with family and friends, and if you're known as the photographer of the bunch, your ability to assemble people into a coherent whole for a photo that everyone will want to keep forever will be tested.

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