Well, figuratively that is.

When I first started out with digital photography a long, long time ago in a land....ahem. I made some mistakes in the beginning where I’d take those original shots and edit them with my neophyte photo manipulating skills. That’s not the mistake. The mistake was saving them in lieu of doing the “Save As”  I was forever changing the my original shot.

So, what, I can always edit it again can’t I?

Yes, but the more you push your pixels around, the more your image is going to degrade. Stating fresh with the original is always going to work best. Some will argue the using the Duplicate command in PhotoShop is the purest way of creating a copy of your photo. Technology and your own skills are going to change over time and that’s a another good reason to keep an unedited copy you have to start fresh.

The photos here were taken a few years ago in RAW format and today using a High Dynamic Range blend of three exposures and post processing with Photomatix Pro.

When it comes to shooting in the Canyonlands

While hiking the Canyonlands, the best light (anywhere) is at sunrise  and sunset (the golden hours), but I’m out there all day. That bright high-in-the-sky sunlight can wash over the details and colors. I always have a Circular Polarizing Filter to help put some pop back in to those great scenes. It’s very effective on popping the details in clouds. The Circular Polarizing Filter is a must have recommended for any budding nature photographer.

If you ever have a chance to visit the Canyonlands, I recommend the Needles District and the Elephant Hill Trail connecting to the Joint Loop. It’s an 11 mile loop but expect to spend the day, particularly if you’re going to take lots of photos.

I had seem some hikers at the top of the Elephant Hill  trail, stop and turn around before doing the Joint Loop.  All I could think was “You have no idea what you’re missing”. The sum total of this trail gives every kind of terrain imaginable in one day. Don’t be disappointed and make sure you a bring a big memory card and extra batteries for your digital camera.

See you back at the Sharing Digital Photography Worldwide Forums.

Now go out and find something you weren’t looking for.

Marc’s DP Tip: Backing Up your media means having a “second copy” in case one copy fails. Moving all your media “off” of your hard drive to CDs, DVDs or an external second drive is not a back up.

Best regards,

Marc