christmas

Best and Worst of 2023

The Best and Worst Cameras and Lenses of 2023

Where has the time gone? It's been ten years since Jordan and I started our annual roundup of the best and worst products in our industry. Every year we give our opinions on the cameras we feel deserve the top spot as well as any honorable mentions that have also made a positive impression. Perhaps even more exciting, though, is our vote for the most infamous photo and video products of the year.

8 Great Gifts for Photographers in the 2023 Holiday Season

While it might not yet look like a winter wonderland outside your home, the festive season's excitement is undoubtedly approaching fast. Mixing a bit of eggnog into your coffee could be the energizing secret to efficiently tackling holiday preparations like present wrapping and festive meal planning. As we welcome this season of heartfelt giving and cozy gatherings, our goal is to make your gift-shopping experience as effortless as can be.

Tantrums to Tinsel: Why I Love the Curious and Festive Tradition of the Santa Photo

In April 1995, my uncle secured a lucrative job in Saudi Arabia. He and my aunt left their home in suburban Sydney and relocated to a western compound (a residential gated community for ex-pats) in Jeddah. My aunt shares stories of life under Saudi’s strict laws and how she craved her western freedoms. One such freedom was the celebration of Christmas.

8 Great Gifts for Photographers in the 2022 Holiday Season

Maybe snow hasn’t drifted down to your window sill yet but no doubt the tingly sensation of the holidays is quickly creeping up on us. Adding a little eggnog to your coffee in the morning might give you the right amount of fuel for wrapping presents and cooking hams. As we rev up for this warming and giving season, we are here to make the shopping part of this as easy as possible for you.

Festive Food Photography: Shooting with Christmas Lights

If you're wondering how you can shoot some stunning Christmas food photography, try shooting with holiday festive lights. In this video, I will go through in detail how to shoot with Christmas fairy lights. These lights will bring some festive spirit to your food photography and add sparkle to your Instagram feed this holiday season.

An illustration with a photographer next to a pile of presents

16 Best Gifts for Photographers in 2024

Need to buy a gift for a photographer in your life but have no idea what to look for? We have scoured the world of photography to put together this list of best gifts for photographers you can find right now.

8 Perfect Gifts for Photographers for the 2021 Holiday Season

There’s a lot of technology and terminology involved in photography. So, it’s no wonder that it’s easy to get tripped up when buying presents for photographers. And not just that: There are literally thousands upon thousands of photography products out there. Tyranny of choice, much?

Tips for Shooting Holiday Lights with iPhone

The holidays in New York City are my favorite part of the year. It's such a magical and festive time all throughout the City. You'll find holiday trees, light displays, and the prettiest decorations around every corner.

Shooting Creative Holiday Portraits at Night with a Single Flash

Photographer and YouTuber Irene Rudnik was recently scrolling through Instagram when she stumbled across some beautiful blue-hour snow portraits by photographer @kateblc. Like any good artist, she decided to run with that inspiration, and in the video above, she takes us along behind the scenes to see how she captured a beautiful holiday-themed nighttime portrait using only a single flash.

How Kodak Ruined Christmas: Creepy Ads, Lawsuits, and Dead Film Formats

In an entertaining holiday-themed video that's part educational and part "bah humbug," YouTuber Azriel Knight explains how Kodak managed to ruin Christmas for two decades of photographers. It's a fascinating story of schmaltzy ads, dead film formats, and a huge patent lawsuit that cost them almost $1 billion.

Four Modern and Creative Christmas Portrait Ideas in Two Minutes

Tajreen Hedayet of Tajreen&Co is back with a great holiday portrait tutorial that won't waste your time. In just two minutes (actually less) Hedayet covers four creative Christmas portrait ideas for anyone who wants to create some photos with a "commercial and catalog feel" this holiday season.

How to Photograph Christmas Light Displays

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Streets are filled with joyful songs and gorgeous light displays. Some Christmas trees and illuminations are so large that photographing them can be tricky. Next are some tips and composition ideas, with examples, that can help you take better photos this holiday season.

I Turned IKEA Products Into Costumes for a Rembrandt Photo Shoot

I recently shot the 2017 Christmas card photo for Stavanger Foto, the passionate camera store on the west coast of Norway. Being granted full creative freedom in making the card, I went back to the old masters for inspiration.

My Sad 500px Christmas Story

On December 22nd, I received an email from 500px saying that I sold a photo for $600. Obviously, I was thrilled -- it's nice to get something like this right before Christmas. Upon logging into my 500px account, I saw that there was another sale too for the same photo. The total from the two sales: $2,700.

10 DIY Photo Gifts for the Holidays

Trying to think of a photography-related present for a photography-obsessed person in your life? Here's a 4-minute video by COOPH that features 10 great DIY gift idea for this this holiday season.

How I Shot Snowy Christmas Portraits in My Studio

I recently shot a series of snowy portraits... inside my studio. This shoot was originally just intended to be for my own Christmas card, The idea was to do something fun, dreamy, and Christmas-related (with a Santa hat and fun poses) that I could send to friends, family and clients. As the year was coming to an end, a fun photo shoot was very welcomed. And, ironically, we didn't have snow at this point in Brussels, which is very unusual.

The Photographer’s Night Before Christmas

T’was the night before Christmas, when all through the house.
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
in hopes that new photo gear soon would be there.

Stunner Santa Poses for a Male Fashion Photo Shoot

For its holiday campaign this year, the Yorkdale shopping mall in Toronto, Canada, created Fashion Santa. Instead of wearing his traditional red hat, coat, trousers, and boots, Santa posed for a photo shoot wearing festive outfits representing the latest trends in male fashion.

PetaPixel Photography Gift Guide 2014

We're a bit late this year, but here's the latest edition of our holiday gift guide! Unlike other photography gift guides you might find this holiday season, ours is more lighthearted and geared more toward novelty gifts than serious gear.

Unique Time-Lapse Turns Vienna Into a Living Snow Globe

Few countries celebrate Christmas as beautifully as Austria. Vienna in particular is known for its buildings adorned in decorations, streets illuminated by lights, and seasonal markets called ‘Christkindlmarkt.’

It’s these festive elements that inspired time-lapse production team FilmSpektakel to create a unique time-lapse of Vienna’s winter wonderland -- unique because the whole thing is captured refracted through a snow globe.

13 Photo Books for Your Stocking Stuffers

In the age of the iPad, there still is something glorious about a photo book. Here are a few of our favorites from 2014, so send Santa (or Hanukah Harry) a quick tweet, and get a big dose of inspiration this Holiday season.

Clever Trick: Document the Exact Lighting Setup of a Photo Using a Christmas Bulb

When capturing a photograph, something many of us meticulously try to account for is the lighting -- more specifically, how much light is coming from what sources.

Using ratios, a bit of rough math and a pen & paper, you could write it down. But sometimes numbers don’t directly translate into results. Here with an ingenious way to properly capture the lighting in a scene is Felix Kunze and Sue Bryce.