The magical world of non-destructive edits

iPhone 6 Plus ~ 4.15mm ~ ƒ/2.2

Lately, it's been tricky finding time to shoot.  Generally speaking, inspiration hasn't been the dilemma; in fact, I am quite grateful that the urge to take a picture materializes more often than not.  It's a feeling I've missed, part and parcel with the writings that used to be common fare on this site.  Time and energy it is that stops me nowadays.

So I decided to take a quick journey on my iPhone today, utilizing the [Search] function built into the Photos app.  (Side note: Try it.  Seriously.  Search for anything; flowers, mountains, a person, a color, etc.  My library is over 27,000 pictures strong.  What I find with search is staggering)

Anyway, back to what I was doing.  A quick search popped up this glorious shot of a jutted rock in Newport, CA.  But sadly, it didn't look like this first image with rocky details and creamy morning sand. 

Shot w/Hipstamatic ~ badly

Instead, it looked like this.  It was a hastily snapped picture, taken with my favorite app, Hipstamatic. And thanks to the magic of non-destructive edits, I was able to turn back the hands of time by six years and uncover the virgin, unedited picture with a few taps of my finger.  

Hipstamatic doesn't always do what I wish it would.  But that's part of the appeal, in a way.  Harkening back to the days of disposable point and shoots, when one would never know what result would come until the day of development, Hipstamatic brings a little bit of risk back into digital photography. 

But I digress; such is no longer the case.  I remember reading years ago when the developers added non-destructive edits, but I believe I only scoffed when I saw that news.  I probably figured it would tarnish what I believed to be a perfect app.

But I've grown up a bit, and today's photo brings me a bit of excitement.  Because buried within the 27,000+ photos in my library is the possibility of a few more gems worth re-editing.  And that will tide me over quite well until I can get back out on the road and capture a few new shots.