setup xara so you have both a background and a reference photo viewable at the same.

you know so if your using a reference photo, you can view it while you draw?

drag and drop? that did work. anything else i should know?

If you use layers, you can put the reference on one layer and lock it then draw on the layer above. Many people use this technique for tracing images. I'm not sure if that's what you have in mind.

I often make the photo a bit transparent, so the background is visible through it.

You can use New View or have two open documents side by side. The attached image shows a new view side by side. The NASA image is in the same document and an additional view is open so the jpg is centered. One view can remain focused on one part of the open document and you can work, change zoom, scroll, etc. the view where you are drawing.

The first attachment shows the shows two different open documents and the second attachment shows the same document using a New View.