J-C-M's photostream  

I took up photography as a hobby in 2009 when I first got hold of a digital SLR camera. Prior to that I predominantly took photos when travelling on holidays, using a succession of digital pocket cameras, and before that, film cameras. I have a Minolta 35mm SLR camera that I took some pleasing pictures with, but I find the processing and printing of photographic film a bit frustrating. Either you sent it off to a lab to print which was slow and expensive, or you did work in the darkroom yourself which was expensive and tedious. Unless we're talking about a nightclub, I can confidently say that standing around in a dark room full of chemicals is not my favourite way to spend a weekend.

I've been on the digital imaging bandwagon right from the start, although it took a while for the commercial products to reach the promised potential. I studied digital image processing at university before the release of Photoshop 1.0, and for my engineering thesis I designed a CMOS digital imaging integrated circuit before any digital camera was on the market. It wasn't until six or seven years later that CMOS camera sensors reached commercialisation.

Since you can now get a decent digital camera at a reasonable cost (although good optics are still expensive), I siezed the opportunity to try my hand at some techniques that aren't really possible using photographic film. For example, I particularly enjoy high dynamic range (HDR) photographic techniques and processing, as well as digital enhancement of pictures from around Melbourne's rich and colourful street art scene.

I've picked up photography and digital processing techniques from a lot of people and places online as well as a great deal of experimentation. Many of the processing techniques I use (together with many more) are well described in the excellent HDR Cookbook by Farbspiel. I highly recommend it to anyone wishing to learn.