There will be plenty of opportunities to shoot outdoors during the holidays, but a landscape blanketed in snow may convince your camera to underexpose the shot, yielding snow that has a grayish or bluish cast. If your camera has a scene setting for snow, dial it in. Otherwise, use the exposure compensation dial on your camera to overexpose the scene. Setting the dial to +1 (that is, one stop of exposure) will probably be enough in most cases.

IWhen you shoot outdoors in very cold weather, your camera's batteries may give out sooner than they normally would. Carry a spare battery and keep it warm in your jacket. If you've been out in the cold for a while, protect your camera's lens and electronics from condensation when you bring it back into the house by sealing the camera in a plastic bag and letting it warm slowly in an unheated area of the house (such as the garage).

Now that you've assembled a collection of holiday photos, what can you do with them?

If your PC runs Windows 7, you can create your own holiday-photo-themed desktop that randomly displays selections from a set of photos as a desktop background. The results will this look great on your PC, and you can share the theme with friends and family who also have Windows 7--maybe as a personalized holiday gift.