Not everything works out every time, and as a photographer you can sometimes run into problems. But some problems can be avoided if you’re prepared for the pitfalls of holiday photography. That goes for Christmas too.

Bad weather is a fact of life that there’s no point in fighting. But you can take advantage of it. When you’re taking your pictures, fit that weather into the story your photos are telling. You may be surprised, but mist and dusk can work wonders.

Architecture comes in countless forms—from medieval castles to modern office complexes. And you have to take your pictures differently for each of these if you want to capture their monumentality, dynamics, and interesting details. Our tips on how to photograph different types of architecture will help here.

Breathtaking wide-angle shots have been a favorite since the days of 35mm film. But how do you create a panorama where the pictures flow into each other correctly, with no stitching lines visible between them?  It’s simpler than you’d think. You just need the right photos and a few minutes’ time, and you too can make a panorama.

The seeming motion of the stars is due to the Earth’s rotation around its own axis. The stars form concentric rings around the point that the Earth’s axis intersects in the sky—for the Northern Hemisphere, this is roughly around the North Star.

The popular photo editor and manager Zoner Photo Studio X has gained several unique new features just in time for Christmas. With its winter update, it has become the first Windows editor in the world to support the opening and saving of HEIF files. The new Smoothing Brush and Structure Cloning features in its Develop module make it easy to retouch portraits quickly while keeping them natural-looking. The Polarization feature helps users get more detailed clouds, and meanwhile the increased freedom for photo books lets them unlock their imagination.

When you sit down with lenses that all offer the same focal length and aperture, you might think that they’ll all give almost the same outputs. But in reality their outputs vary in a variety of details. To see this difference “live,” check out our test of some Canon and Sigma lenses that—in theory—“meet” at the 35mm focal length.

Unite photos and video.  That’s exactly what a timelapse video lets you do. You can capture action that stretches out for long time periods thanks to this technique. It’s easy to do—just prepare the right photos and then merge them into a video. Let’s take a look at how to do that.

They say that for a true photographer, there’s no bad weather or bad light. But some days you just don’t want to go outside. On those days you don’t have to give up photography—you just need to look around your home. You can find inspiration in every corner. And to make your search easier, we have some tips on things to photograph at home.

With a smart choice of exposure time and camera settings, you can give photos a bit more of yourself, and make your pictures flavorful and exceptional. Gone are the days when photos had to be perfectly sharp.