Photography News

Zoner Studio has a new name and a new look, and it’s fitting that its first update brings along some powerful features to speed up workflow. For more details of the Autumn/Fall 2025 update, click here. You can organise, sort, label and delete images speedily and easily in the Manager module, and processing is just as quick when editing with the ability to work in batches with a few clicks and utilise AI-powered tools.

Zoner Studio is a subscription-based software for Windows 10 and 11 with the guarantee of two major updates a year, so there’s the prospect of new features and tools every six months. Within the software, you can back up to the cloud, print and upload images to the Zonerama online gallery which comes as part of the subscription package. Finally, Zoner Studio is a video editing solution with no extra software or plug-in required.

With such an impressive array of skills, join us for a closer look at Zoner Studio’s Autumn/Fall 2025 update. If it looks like a software you want to try, then you can and it’s free for seven days. Click here to take you to the Zoner Studio download page; no credit card required.

 

Zoner Studio has a modular approach to workflow. This is the Manager module where you can have all the shots showing or folders which makes moving images around easy.

 

Quick Verdict

Zoner Studio is a powerful image editor available on subscription. If you’re a Windows user needing a great value software with amazing AI workflow and editing skills, as well as the ability to edit video, Zoner Studio is worth a serious look and, very importantly, it will save you money compared with Adobe products. It is a modular workflow software with page tabs for Manager, Develop, Editor, Print and Video that is easy to learn and shortcut keys can speed editing up further.

Try Zoner Studio for yourself and download a fully functional version here and you can enjoy its talents free for seven days.

 

+ Pros

• Individual membership $5.99 a month, $59 a year
• Windows 10 and 11 support
• Zonerama Online Photo Gallery with unlimited space for your photos and video
• Family plan for two or more people $9.98 a month, $98 a year
• Updated Spring and Autumn 
• Compatible with most Raw formats including Fujifilm X-Trans CMOS sensors
• Full workflow software using AI
• AI masks, resizing
• Supports 4k resolution
• Supports pressure sensitive drawing tablets
• Integrated colour management
• Speedy image editing with AI tools and presets
• Fully compatible with HDR monitors
• Complete set of output options
• Good for video editing 
• Click here for full details of the latest update

- Cons

• Subscription only

• Windows only, no Mac option

 

 

Zoner Studio is a subscription-based software with two major updates each year. For individuals, it’s priced at $5.99 a month or $59 for a year. The price includes free updates and new tools twice a year, 20GB of free storage, 15 free photo prints and a Zonerama Premium account. There’s also the option of a Family Plan at $9.98 a month or $98 a year, which is a great value for two or more people in your household. Each person gets their own account plus all the benefits of the individual licence. It is for Windows 10 and 11 and is compatible with an extensive range of Raw camera formats including files from Fujifilm X-Trans CMOS sensors.

To see our previous reviews, click here for the Spring 2025 update and here for the Autumn 2024 review. For a free, fully-functional seven-day trial of Zoner Studio, click here.

 

Zoner Studio Autumn/Fall 2025 update highlights

A smooth, efficient workflow is essential for today’s image maker particularly with cameras that can shoot continuous bursts at 20, 30, 50 and even 120 frames every second. Obviously, much depends on the subject but in an afternoon you could end up with several thousand shots to work through.

AI Close-ups in the Zoner Studio Autumn/Fall is a big feature that will definitely be much used by prolific shooters. AI Close-ups has magnification and subject options which are Faces, People, Animals, Birds, Vehicles and Airplanes. The software automatically zooms into the detected subject, and you can just rate the photographs using the magnified image that you want to keep for further editing.

 

A1 Close-ups is one of the headline features in the Zoner Studio Autumn/Fall update.

 

Here are the subject and magnification options in the AI Close-ups menu.

 

AI Resize has the ability to enlarge smaller, cropped files without image quality suffering. There are two resizing options. AI Resize (reconstructive interpolation) is for smaller enlargements and is performed through the Export, Edit or Batch Filter menus. This method is quick because no new content is generated but its working range is limited to about double the size of the original image.

AI Resize Generative is designed to produce bigger images with minimal quality loss and this is done through the Edit menu. As its name tells you, AI is used to fill in missing details or determine what’s hidden in blurred areas and smooth things out. AI doesn’t just stretch the image to make it bigger but enhances its content for a quality result, so it takes several seconds.

 

AI Resize (reconstructive interpolation) enlarges photos without creating new detail so it’s quick and ideal for batch processing.

 

AI Resize Generative can help you recover quality as well as give a much larger print size. from severely cropped images.

 

New features of Zoner Studio Autumn / Fall 2025 update

• AI Close-ups – find your best shot quickly. Detect animals, vehicles, people, faces, and aircraft
• New AI resize methods – Reconstructive Interpolation perfect for everyday photos and batch imports
• Generative – fills in missing details, suitable for major resizing (4x or more)
• Improved Split view with a slider
• Improved photo books – drag and drop, filmstrip
• Two video updates – smooth audio cuts
• Improved retouching tools, faster and natural results
• New crop tools - diagonal, triangles, golden spiral aids
• Faster selections
• Improved export
• Simpler editing

 

Zoner Studio: Ease Of Use & Performance

 

Finding your way around Zoner Studio is straightforward thanks largely to the five module concept which has self-explanatory tabs for Manager, Develop, Editor, Print and Video. That said, this is a very powerful workflow software and digging deeper into its treasure chest of tools and features will take time as will learning and remembering quick keys.  

The AI Close-ups feature worked quickly even though I was working with 45 megapixel Raws from a Canon EOS R5 Mark II. The previews would appear sharp enough to assess even though the Processing icon was still showing. With a sequence of portraits, Zoner Studio would usually magnify the face, which really sped up the workflow, but on the odd occasion a different part of the image was highlighted. Also, in my stag portrait, the software picked the base of its antlers where I would have expected the AI to pick up on the nearby eye. However, in both instances, it wasn’t a problem to move the image so that the face or eye showed. The key thing, though, was that  Zoner Studio made it quick process to go through large number of shots and identify the keepers.

 

AI Close-ups works very quickly and in this sequence of shots featuring an airplane coming into land, Zoner Studio picked the right area to show.

 

For some reason, AI Close-ups picked out four facial close-ups perfectly but slipped up on the fifth, even though the composition of the five images was the same.

 

In this sequence of shots of a stag, AI Close-up picked out the base of the antler to focus on when you would have expected the software to latch onto the eye.

 

After AI Close-up, the next big feature, the Zoner Studio Autumn / Fall update was its two resizing skills, AI Resize Reconstructive Interpolation and AI Resize Generative.

I tested AI Reconstructive Interpolation starting with a full-size 50 megapixel Raw from a Sony A1 II. The original 8640x5760 pixel file of a heron enjoying its fish supper was cropped down to just 2687x1734 pixels then, using AI Reconstructive Interpolation took a few seconds to resize it to 5269x3400pixels.

 

The original Raw file was captured with a Sony A1 II fitted with a FE 400-800mm lens and opened up to an image of 8640x5760pixels. Image: Will Cheung.

 

Cropped in Zoner Studio resulted in an image measuring 2687x1734 pixels and this was resized using AI Reconstructive Interpolation to 5269x3400 pixels.

 

Close-up of the 2687x1734 pixels image

 

Close up of the image after AI Reconstructive Interpolation to 5269x3400 pixels

 

Moving on to AI Resize Generative I started with an image of a starling. This was taken on a Sony A1 II with a FE 400-800mm zoom lens. It was shot at the very high ISO of 5000 and the image was not treated to any denoising. The original  was 8640x5760pixels  before being cropped to a small image of just 1924x1276pixels. This image was then resized back to close to its original size using AI Resize Generative. For comparison’s sake I repeated the process with AI Reconstructive Interpolation.

 

This image of starling was cropped down from 8640x5760pixels to just 1924x1276pixels.

 

Taking the 1924x1276pixels image, I resized it to 8732x5820pixels using Zoner’s AI Reconstructive Interpolation function and then repeated the process to the same size using AI Resize Generative and this is the resulting image.

 

Taking a highly magnified look at the feather detail of the two starling shots. On the left is the AI Reconstructive Interpolation compared with AI Resize Generative on the right. The extra detail and  clarity of the AI Resize Generative version is clear.

 

Value for Money

Zoner Studio is available on subscription at $5.99 per month or $59 annually plus there’s the Family Pack option. Either way, subscribing to  Zoner Studio is cheaper than taking on Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom. It is worth celebrating the fact that Zoner Studio has held its price. We rated the software highly on value for money in 2024, and the fact that it’s the same price in late 2025 with so many improvements makes its great value for money. 

Zoner Studio is available on subscription and that might put some people off, but subscriptions are part and parcel of modern life, whether we like them or not. In the case of Zoner Studio’s monthly fee of $5.99, this is less than the cost of an average bottle of wine and probably more rewarding and you get two big updates a year.

Go for an annual subscription and at the end of the licence period, there is a one month grace period to give you time to extend the licence and even when the licence period has ended, you can still export photos and view images.

 

Zoner Studio Verdict

 

With its updated branding and new name, Zoner Studio has already had a big year and the Autumn / Fall update certainly sees out 2025 in style.

AI Close-ups is a big feature that speeds up the process of wading through hundreds of pictures to pick out your best shots, and the fact that it works for a wide range of subjects makes it even more useful. 

Zoner Studio’s new resizing skills may not be so significant but the benefits are clear and if you need to resize files from tightly cropped images, the feature is on hand and it works well. 

With these new skills added to its already extensive selection of image and video editing skills, you can’t really quibble about the cost of Zoner Studio and you get it all for $5.99 a month or $59 a year, so value for money rates very highly. Try the free seven-day trial version for yourself here. 

 

Zoner Photo Studio X Pros

• Individual membership $5.99 a month, $59 a year
• Windows 10 and 11 support
• Zonerama Online Photo Gallery with unlimited space for your photos and video
• Family plan for two or more people $9.98 a month, $98 a year
• Updated Spring and Autumn 
• Compatible with most Raw formats including Fujifilm X-Trans CMOS sensors
• Full workflow software using AI
• AI masks, resizing
• Supports 4k resolution
• Supports pressure sensitive drawing tablets
• Integrated colour management
• Speedy image editing with AI tools and presets
• Fully compatible with HDR monitors
• Complete set of output options
• Good for video editing

 

Zoner Photo Studio X Cons

• Subscription only
• Windows only, no Mac option

[REVIEW_FOOTER]R_features=4.5|R_handling=4|R_performance=4.5|R_value=5|R_overall=4.5|A_level=4.5|E_id=8016[/REVIEW_FOOTER]

If you're tired of the endless hamster wheel of Instagram reels, TikTok trends, and algorithm changes that seem designed to make you fail, you're not alone. Social media has become an exhausting game that burns through time without delivering consistent bookings. The truth is, while social platforms can be useful tools, they should never be the foundation of your business. The most successful photographers I know have built their client base on three timeless pillars that actually work: local SEO, vendor relationships, and strategic community presence.

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Let’s cut the fluff! If you’re relying solely on social media trends, aesthetic reels, or gifting your clients cupcakes to stay top-of-mind, you’re missing the long game. In an industry drowning in performative marketing, the most powerful and most slept-on strategy is simple: ethics.

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As photographers, we have all felt that creeping anxiety when leaving a car full of equipment that’s often worth more than the car itself. Whether it’s a quick stop on the way to a location shoot or leaving our gear in the car parked overnight, the thought of something happening to it is always at the back of our minds. This is where a reliable dash cam with parking monitoring can add an extra layer of peace of mind.

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Choosing between Canon’s newer R bodies is not a spec-sheet game. It changes how you shoot wildlife, action, and low light work day to day. The way the EOS R5, R5 Mark II, R6 Mark II, and R6 Mark III handle speed, autofocus, and files can either lift your keeper rate or quietly hold you back when things move fast.

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Landscape photography punishes lazy habits and vague plans. If you want images that stand out among other photographers instead of blending into the scroll, you have to confront some blunt lessons about light, gear, and how much effort you are actually putting in.

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Choosing between the Fujifilm X-E5 and the Fujifilm X-T5 decides what your everyday shooting actually feels like, from travel snapshots to paid assignments. Both sit in a similar price range and share the same 40.2-megapixel sensor, so the real difference comes from how each body handles in your hands.

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If you are trying to decide whether a 61-megapixel body can carry both your stills and video work, the Sony a7R V mirrorless camera is probably already on your short list. A long-term look at how it survives drops, bad weather, and heavy mixed use is what actually helps working photographers separate hype from a real upgrade, and you'll find it here.

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Photo by David Pritchard

 

The most important part about photography at this time of year is – rather obviously, to be prepared for the cold! Warm clothing, preferably layered, and a hat; if you're cold, your mind is more on how cold you are rather than the pictures you're looking for.

 

Keep yourself (and your batteries) warm! 

Remember too, that when you're standing around looking for photographs, you will get colder quicker, so err on the side of too much, rather than too little warm clothing. Your camera battery won't last as long in sub-zero temperatures either, so make sure you have a spare with you, and that they're fully charged. Try keeping the spare in an inside pocket, rather in your camera bag, as your body warmth will keep the charge in the battery for longer.

  Rise early

Frosts are typically better early in the day, often before the sun hits the frost and starts to thaw it; which means a prompt start, but one of the benefits of the winter months, is that at least sunrise is at a more sociable time than in the summer! Head for areas of open space and rolling landscapes, rather than woodland, where the shelter of the trees can prevent frost.

 

Consider trees, foliage and hedges

Trees and hedges are great subjects for frost of course, but more in isolation. Use your macro lens for close-ups of frost on leaves – both on the tree or lying on the ground - or on cobwebs. Even frost on a barbed wire fence portrays the feeling of a crisp winter morning. Remember too, that a small aperture will give you a greater depth-of-field, to ensure more of your picture remains sharp, but on isolated leaves, try a wider aperture to isolate the leaf against an out-of-focus background.

 

Photo by David Pritchard

 

On a really cold day, when even the sun isn't going to thaw the frost too quickly, a touch of sunlight helps to emphasise the sparkle of frost, and especially try shooting into the light to accentuate the glint of the sun on the frost still further, but remember to use a lens hood to minimise the chance of flare on your pictures.

Even photographing in the shade can still show wonderful textures, and remember, temperatures remain lower in the shade – so frost tends to hang about longer. If your subject is in a particularly shady spot, use of a reflector can help to bounce a little daylight into the darker areas. A warm reflector, such as a gold, or sunfire, can also help to reduce the blue cast so common in the shade.

The white of frost can also fool your camera meter, so keep a close eye on your histogram as most cameras still "see" white frost as mid-grey. Possibly an exposure compensation of around +1 stop will keep your frost-laden trees looking pristine white.

Article by John Gravett of Lakeland Photographic Holidays - www.lakelandphotohols.com

Did you edit that picture? Was it Photoshopped? These questions miss the point. Editing is a part of the photographic process from the outset, before the shutter is even fired.

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Your contract is either your career’s best friend or a ticking time bomb. I’ve been in this business for over 15 years, and I’ve seen creatives lose thousands of dollars, and in some cases, entire portfolios because they didn’t write things down clearly. Photographers, if your contract doesn’t say this, you’re in trouble.

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14–17 January 2026 • Novotel London West, Hammersmith

Trade Show 15–17 January – FREE ENTRY

The UK’s most exciting photography Convention is back — bigger, bolder and packed with more inspiration, education and industry powerhouses than ever before.

The 2026 London Photo Convention & Trade Show brings thousands of photographers together under one roof for four days of hands-on learning, live demos, exclusive deals, and world-class speakers. If you’re serious about your photography — this is where you need to be.

FREE Trade Show: 15–17 January — Meet the Biggest Brands in Photography

Get ready for three electric days on the Trade Show floor, with leading camera and lighting brands showcasing their latest kit. Expect:

• Hands-on access to the newest cameras & lenses
• Live demonstrations from top pros
• Expert advice from manufacturers
• Show-only offers and exclusive discounts
• Retailers showcasing must-have accessories

Whether you're upgrading, testing, comparing or just curious — the Trade Show is 100% free to attend and absolutely packed.

 

 

Over 200 Hours of Training with Masterclasses & Superclasses

If you're hungry to learn, the Convention’s education programme is unmatched.

Masterclasses

Dive into a huge lineup of practical, inspiring and business-boosting sessions covering:

• Portraits • Weddings • Lighting
• Wildlife • Macro • Post-production
• Creative storytelling • Branding
• Business growth for photographers

Top photographers, award-winning educators and industry leaders share the techniques and insights that elevate your photography fast.

Superclasses

Want hands-on training with the best in the business?

The Superclasses deliver small-group, practical workshops with some of the most respected names in the industry. Limited spaces — these sell out fast every single year.

 

 

The Photography Event You Simply Can’t Afford to Miss

If you want to improve your skills, grow your business, network with other creatives and immerse yourself in the world of photography — this is your event.

 

Join thousands of photographers for the ultimate start to 2026. 14–17 January • London Trade Show FREE Masterclass Passes & Superclasses available now

 

Book your tickets now!

 

Every photographer has been there. You're at a dimly lit wedding reception, a moody concert venue, or walking the streets at night, and your camera is begging for a tripod. But tripods aren't always practical, welcome, or even permitted in these environments. The good news is that you don't need one. With the right combination of technique, body mechanics, and smart camera settings, you can consistently capture sharp, usable images in challenging low-light situations without any support gear.

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Micro four thirds always seems to spark an argument about “good enough” image quality, especially if you are used to a big full frame body and heavy glass. When a camera like the OM SYSTEM OM-3 promises serious performance in a small body, the real question is: how far you can push it before you start to miss those larger sensors?

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A 102-megapixel medium format sensor with a fixed 35mm lens is not a common combo, and it changes how you work from the first frame. If you care about resolution, cropping flexibility, and traveling lighter without giving up detail, this camera lands in a very specific sweet spot.

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As the leaves turn colour and fall off the trees they present us with another photographic opportunity to shoot autumn themed images in a very different way. The technique we're talking about is freezing colourful leaves and photographing the ice block.

By freezing whole leaves in a pan of water you'll not only have colourful photography, but interesting and unique ice patterns to photograph too.
 

 

It's best to do this technique outside if you can as the light's better, they'll be less cleaning up and there isn't electrical equipment to fry as there is in a studio!

Kit wise, you'll need a macro lens on the front of your camera so you can get in close to the cracks that spread over the colourful leaf textures in the ice. You can leave the tripod inside, but make sure you have a reflector handy as it will help direct light into the dark areas the sun can not reach.
 

How to make a leaf ice block Place your leaf, vibrant autumn colours work the best, face down in the container, add water and put it in the freezer. If you can, pick leaves with splayed tips so light can shine through them. After about 30-40 minutes check your container as the leaves may have floated to the surface and moved position. Once it's frozen take the container outside and start shooting.   Make a support for your ice block

If you have something that can support your ice block so light can shine through it – great. If not, freeze it in a clear container and place it on a light coloured surface. Shallow containers work the best as you only need a few inches of water for this to work. You may also find coloured paper/card useful to add a punch of colour to the background of the image.

 

Camera settings

 

Small apertures, around f/22, will give you great depth-of-field so you'll be able to shoot patterns right through the ice. Check your camera's meter reading and if needs be spot meter from the leaf so the camera doesn't get confused from the light shining off the ice. Look for interesting designs, areas where air bubbles have gathered and unusual shapes that cut across the colourful leaf.

As it will take a while for the ice to melt, head back inside, put the kettle on and come back out to the ice every half an hour or so to snap the frozen air bubbles and water as it melts.   

 

Discover how to navigate the challenges of rejection in street photography while transforming setbacks into opportunities for growth. What are the secrets to building confidence and fostering meaningful connections with your subjects?

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An 85mm f/1.8 lens is one of the simplest ways to upgrade portraits, giving tighter framing and strong subject separation without a huge, heavy setup. When that lens also costs about as much as a budget kit zoom, it becomes a very real alternative to saving up for a big-brand prime.

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