Because on reflection, I never make mistakes - at least ones that can't be swiftly blamed on the camera!

That is true, but I found recently that shooting film yielded better results than I used to get before I started with digital... the instant feedback on digital actually does help you learn, despite the throwaway nature of the medium which means you are less inclined to pay as much attention to what you are doing

Do pro's never ever screw up the settings on their camera when taking 'snapshots'?

Or are the pros just less willing to share their screw-ups?

Another very nice shot. What an incredible place!

The title made me think of this song -

Someone left the cake out in the rain
I don't think that I can take it
'Cause it took so long to bake it
And I'll never have that recipe again

Remember the William Shatner version? Remarkable.

I think you're on to a winner with this Paul.

AMAZING BBC4 documentary last night about photographer Ragnar 'Rax' Axelsson 'on his mission to capture the human faces of climate change by photographing the vanishing lifestyles of the people of the north'. Some jaw dropping images and HD SLR footage around the Icelandic volcano while it was erupting. He has a great way with combined portrait/landscapes - you'll see what I mean if you watch it or check his website gallery:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0110ghk/Storyville_20102011_Last_Days_of_t...

http://www.rax.is/

Almost reminds me of the Turin shroud!

No offence taken!

I had just switched from video mode into Av, but accidentally went into TaV. Other times I have had similar results when forgetting to cancel EV compensation... But what if that part of the image was overexposed deliberately, because I had wanted some darker area in the foreground to be correctly exposed? RAW gives you more latitude to deal with situations like that.

Now, that's a very odd thing to say Matt! The foreground is an instinric part of the scene which you may want to include - for instance in taking shots of mount Teide last year, the tabaiba bushes which dotted the plain below the mountain added a lot of interest to the scene. With my UWA lens I was able to stand virtually within one of these bushes and include the whole bush in the scene at close up, while capturing the vastness of the landscape around me and the mountain towering above it all.

I had a quick go at that cheetah to show what I meant - http://i786.photobucket.com/albums/yy148/willdb_photo/cheetah.jpg?t=1304874214

I hope you don't mind. I tweaked the levels histogram and played with duplicate layers in 'multiply' mode.

+1 - it was playing well against the lighting IMO.