Whenever I’m in challenging light, I prefer to use my mirrorless camera. The Nikon Zf, for example, performs wonderfully in dim conditions. But I don’t always have it with me. And in those instances, I have to depend on the iPhone 17 Pro in RAW mode. Or do I?

I mean, how good are those files? And are they as maliable in editing as from my other cameras?

The short is: the RAW files are decent, but not as good as from a larger sensor mirrorless camera. Surprise, surprise.

Let’s take a look at extreme conditions during twilight.

This is how the iPhone captured a sunset scene without compensation or manipulation. It’s pretty much as you would expect. It exposed for the bright sky and let the foreground shadows fend for themselves. If I didn’t want that pool of water in the composition, I could crop right below the treeline and call it a day (or a night).

But I did want that pool of water, so then the foreground had to be addressed. I used the Photos app and Luminar Neo editing extension to edit the scene.

I was able to enhance the sky and pull out some details in the foreground. But there wasn’t nearly as much headroom for shadow recovery as with my other cameras.

The other downside was in the rendering of foreground detail. It’s far more coarse and chunky-looking than the actual turf. I attribute this to the lack of light-gathering power of the iPhone in low light and its attempt to render the dark areas using its computational tricks.

Those of us who shoot RAW with APS-C and full-frame sensors get spoiled with the ability to recover shadows and highlights in wide dynamic range lighting conditions. It’s just not the same with an iPhone, nor do I expect it to be.

In fact, I was able to get just as good results, if not better, with the stock HEIF captures from the iPhone. And they edited just as well too.

Above is the original capture, not in RAW mode. And below is the edited version using the same tools.

If anything, I feel like the HEIF files responded better in Photos and Luminar Neo.

My bottom line with the iPhone is this: don’t bother with shooting in RAW. Let it do its thing with the High Quality HEIF files. And when possible, have a mirrorless camera on hand for demanding lighting conditions.

RAW just isn’t the same on an iPhone.

Photography has its own unique set of housekeeping tasks. And as the days become shorter and the temperatures cooler, now is the perfect time to tidy up the business side of our craft.

There are 5 things I focus on this time of year:

• Protect the Work I’ve Done - Test my backup system.

• Serial Numbers and Updated Insurance Riders - Account for my gear.

• Print My Best Pictures - Create a device-independent archive.

• Identify the Gear That I’m Not Using - Reclaim space and generate income.

• Make Plans for the New Year - Block out chunks of time for my craft.

Start with the Backup System

I have my images organized on an external RAID drive and on a portable SSD. My favorite shots are saved in iCloud as an additional layer of convenience and protection. I can access my Cloud account from any of my devices as long as I have an internet connection.

For the connected drives, I use Peakto to account for them and provide a friendly user interface for managing the shots. I like it because it brings everything together from various locations into one easy-to-view screen.

I test the system by creating a list of shots that I want to find, and then search for them. This is a strict Pass/Fail activity. If I don’t recover 100 percent of the photos I have on my list, then I troubleshoot the system until I reach perfection.

Testing your backup system is the critical task at hand. There are few things more heartbreaking than thinking your images are protected when they are not.

Serial Numbers and Updated Insurance Riders

It doesn’t do any good to pay for insurance for equipment that you’ve sold. December is a great time to review your policy and delete items that you no longer own — then add gear that you’ve acquired over the year. In addition to the policy itself, keep an inventory list separately as well.

It feels great to have everything itemized. Plus, now you have a platform to add additional information, such as purchase date, price, and even a photo of the item with a short description.

If you experience theft, fire, flooding, or some other loss, your inventory will help facilitate a fast recovery.

Print Your Best Pictures

We have no idea what the future has in store for us. Hard drives and computers could go the way of the dodo bird. A massive solar storm or cyber attack could erase everything. AI bots could go rogue. I know this sounds very sci-fi, but we just don’t know.

Archival prints are immune to all of this. We don’t need a device to view them. They have a long shelf life. And they are beautiful.

If you were to make six prints every year of your best stuff, chances are good that you would have an entire exhibit archived by the time you retire. Think about it... if you wanted, you could erase every device you own and still have a collection of images left for posterity.

Start this year by making at least 6 of the largest prints your printer can output. Store them in an archival box and mark the outside clearly. Then next December, do it again.

Identify the Gear That You’re Not Using

Our photography, like everything else, evolves over time. We find new areas of interest and perhaps become less enamored with previous favorites. Our gear will reflect those changes.

We’re pretty good about adding new items to accommodate fresh interests. But the old stuff tends to migrate to the back of the closet, out of sight.

Since we have to pull everything out anyway to account for it in our inventory, why not use this opportunity to designate lesser-used items for sale? Not only does this save space and simplify inventory control, but those extra dollars can go into future purchases for new things we need.

Make Plans for the New Year

Once you have your 2025 under control, it’s time to think about the coming year. Do you have a project that you’ve been thinking about? Now is the perfect time to sketch it out, add milestones, and set your goal.

Is there a destination that you’ve wanted to photograph? December is a great time to research the best times to visit, create budgets, and start discussions with your travel partner.

Blocking out space on the calendar for your adventures and goals not only increases the likelihood of them materializing, but it also reveals the open spaces you have for other activities. It’s a lot easier to agree to attend a family gathering in July when you know that month is open.

Plus, what a great feeling to have events to look forward to.

Final Thoughts

Photographers living north of the equator may think of December as an uninspiring time of short, cold days. But there’s great opportunity to plant seeds for the coming year.

Set aside some time to work on this checklist. And have a great 2026!

I’ve been following DxO PhotoLab for quite a while, and I check in with it annually. From the early-days lens corrections, to its great RAW processing, to ClearView, to the integration with the Nik Collection, there was always something I liked.

But this year was different. Yes, the new AI Mask tool works great. I like that. But there’s more to it. It feels as though the overall managing and editing environment in PhotoLab has come together. And that includes the integration with the latest versions of Nik Collection and FilmPack.

Following up on that vibe, I decided to do more than just a check-in. I told our TDS Podcast audience that I was going to use PhotoLab 9.2 exclusively with the OM System OM-3 during a weeklong photography workshop in Northern California.

This was a good test for PhotoLab. We photographed the Sonoma County coastline, Dry Creek Valley wineries, African animals at Safari West, and the giant redwoods in Armstrong Woods.

Each day I would add images from the SD card to my file directory system, then point PhotoLab to the pictures. I can also use this same organization for other apps, such as Lightroom Desktop, Nitro, etc.

As with any new software, there was a UI learning curve. But soon, I was sorting and editing with ease. And the great DxO tools such as ClearView, Denoising, and masking helped me get the most from my pictures.

DxO has optimization modules for the OM-3 and all of my Olympus lenses. The app would read the metadata from the image and then ask me if I wanted to download and apply the profiles. This provides a great starting point for post production. In most cases, the pictures were already looking good via the optimizations.

After I edited my favorites, I would send a copy of them directly to the Photos app where I could share them on all of my Apple devices. This turns out to be a great way to efficiently use my Cloud storage. Only the pictures I really like go to Photos, everything else stays in the file system.

But What About Lightroom?

A lot of people asked me about using PhotoLab instead of Lightroom Classic. Generally, if they like Classic, it seems logical to stick with it. Adobe is constantly adding AI tools that are amazing, and Classic is a refined photo management app.

Plus, PhotoLab has an export function that allows you to send finished photos right into the Lightroom Classic catalog. So you can use DxO as a complement to your existing workflow.

But for people like me, who enjoy using a variety of photo applications, DxO PhotoLab is even more useful. I use Lightroom Desktop when I want Adobe’s Generative tools, Photos for MacOS for Cloud storage and for its editing extensions such as Nitro and Luminar Neo, and now PhotoLab 9.2 for those shoots that I want to leverage DxO’s optimizations.

And because PhotoLab is a perpetual license, I could see new photographers who don’t want monthly subscriptions gravitating to it.

So Will I Keep Using PhotoLab?

Yes, indeed. Now that I’m comfortable with it, I find myself selecting it more and more, especially if I think I’m going to tap Nik Silver Efex or DxO FilmPack.

DxO offers a Free Trial for 30 days, which is more than enough time to get comfortable with it. If you decide to buy, I would wait until we get close to Black Friday. DxO almost always has a great BF sale for its software, and you should be able to save a bundle off its standard $239 price tag.

If you do need a discount code now, use - DIGITALSTORY - you can save 15 percent any time for DxO software. This isn’t an affiliate code. It’s a straight discount for my newsletter readers.

Final Thoughts

I think part of the reason why I’m attracted to PhotoLab this time around is because I really like the pictures from my OM-3 and Nikon Zf, and PhotoLab squeezes the most quality from those files. As a result, I’m spending less time futzing with my photos.

Plus I very much like its creative tools such as Blur Vignetting, Frames, Textures, Light Leaks, and easy access to my Nik Collection and FilmPack.

Also, the integration with Photos and Lightroom Classic makes it easy to stick with my main apps, but still enjoy those great PhotoLab tools.

It’s going to be interesting to see how my workflow evolves over the coming year. I can see a lot more PhotoLab in my future.

The minute we stepped out of the car, we realized just how inhospitable Bodie can be. The wind was howling and a gust kicked dust in my eyes. This was after 13 miles of chattering washboard road off Highway 395. And at an altitude of 8,379 feet, the sun constantly glared in my lens, seemingly regardless of what direction I was pointed.

We donned our gear and pushed out into the remains of a gold rush era ghost town.

I’ve visited this State Historical Park many times and have photographed it many ways. For this day I settled on a 35mm Nikon FG with a roll of 2014 Fujicolor C200. I chose to work with the 40mm f/2.0 Voigtlander Ultron lens. This decision was final. There would be no lens changing in these conditions.

There was something about the look of film that seemed appropriate for Bodie on that day. I didn’t want precise digital color, expansive dynamic range, or skin-slicing sharpness. I wanted mood and emotion, and to acknowledge the endurance of this once booming mining town.

My very first photo featured a light leak. Most likely something I did while loading the cassette. But since the subject was the church, I choose to interpret the glow as divine intervention.

I got down on the ground for this next composition. I wanted a low angle so I could capture the wind-blown grasses in the foreground. These two buildings seem to lean upon one another for strength against the elements.

I can feel the harshness of the environment in this shot. The white-curtained windows glowing brightly with the contrasty foreground elements.

I imagined that the bullet-riddled Shell Gasoline sign was shot up one night by a drunken miner blowing off steam. He must have had two loaded six-shooters.

It’s hard to imagine how difficult life was there. But this picture captures some of the desolation for me.

When I returned home from Bodie, I sent my roll of film to TheDarkroom.com. The developing was $20, and I spent an extra $7 to get their Jumbo Scans (6744x4492). This gives me plenty of resolution for printing and making a set of fine art cards. I also have the negatives if I need them.

Working with the 1982 Nikon FG in Bodie felt right. And the rendering of the town via the roll of Fujicolor was exactly what I had hoped for.

There’s a story about a little girl whose family was moving from San Francisco to Bodie who, depending on who tells it, wrote in her diary either: “Good, by God, I’m going to Bodie” -or- “Goodbye God, I’m going to Bodie.”

After viewing these pictures, you decide for yourself.

All photos by Derrick Story.

Now that my cracked-screen iPhone 15 Pro Max is on its way to the trade-in center - that’s right, and they even gave me $130 to boot - I’m fully immersed in the new iPhone 17 Pro. And I’m liking it.

The design, improved battery life, and A17 Pro processor are all notable improvements. But as you may have guessed, it’s the cameras I want to talk about.

The 48 Megapixel Pro Fusion Camera System

There are three backside cameras in the iPhone Pro.

Main Camera - 24 mm, f/1.78 aperture, second‑generation sensor‑shift optical image stabilization, 100 percent focus pixels, support for high‑resolution photos at 24MP and 48MP.

Fusion Ultra Wide - 13 mm, f/2.2 aperture and 120 degree field of view, hybrid focus pixels, high‑resolution photos at 48MP.

Fusion Telephoto - 100 mm (4x), f/2.8 aperture, hybrid focus pixels, sensor‑shift optical image stabilization and autofocus, tetra-prism design, 48MP.

Because of the high resolution capability with these three cameras and lenses, other crops are available: 28mm, 35mm, 48mm, and 200mm. These focal lengths are a combination of optical capture and computational photography processing.

For example, the main camera can also serve as a 2x Telephoto at 48mm, but the resolution drops to 12MP. And the telephoto camera can be increased to 8X, 200mm, but again at 12MP. And if you really want to push it, the digital zoom can go as high as 40X (but I don’t recommend that.)

If you want to stick with pure optical performance at 48MP or 24MP, then you have three focal lengths to choose from: 13mm, 24mm, and 100mm. But in my opinion, don’t overlook the cropped settings. For example, I’m pleasantly surprised by the performance of the 8X (200mm) fusion camera.

Its image quality is quite good. The only real compromise is the drop in resolution to 12 MP.

The Ultra Wide camera at 48MP is also a joy. I often use this camera on my iPhone so I don’t have to carry bulky wide angles for my mirrorless camera. And now, with the bump in resolution, there’s virtually no trade off.

And of course, I need to mention Portrait mode. Swipe to the left in the new camera app to reveal Portrait right next to Photo. If you need to edit the shot, Photos provides some great lighting and depth adjustments for those important minor tweaks.

It’s so wonderful to have a fully functioning iPhone again! And the design and performance of the 17 Pro doubles my joy.

BTW: You might get a kick out of this… I invested the $130 that I’m getting for my cracked iPhone 15 Pro Max into one full year of serious AppleCare ($139). I’ve learned my lesson.