image downloaded- now what?

[csonni]

I was wondering if my techniques with my images have been correct. is it best to leave the original alone, and rather make a copy and work with it? What about layers? I haven't worked with these at all. I usually just color adjust and sharpen the image. Is it better to perform these things with layers?

[cfire]

It's always better to work on a copy layer so that you can always go back to the original version. :)