For me, photography started as a means to chronicle and share my many and varied excursions including desert hiking, peak bagging, caving, and exploration of Mexico. For approximately a decade, I shot only point-and-shoot cameras, starting with film, then switching to digital. Although I did do some post-processing (cropping, auto-levels, sharpen edges), I never really took photography seriously until July 2010 when I bought my first DSLR. Having a technical background, I rapidly learned the ins and outs of camera basics, lenses, exposure, tripods, etc. I also picked up...more