Mika Salmi recently joined the Panoramic Earth community, uploading some pictures from Finland. His photography mostly focuses on the areas around Lappeenranta, where he was born, and Joensuu, where he studied Information Technology. Photography has always been a hobby, and recently he has become much more interested in it, learning about panoramic photography and High Dynamic Range (HDR) imaging in the last six years. Like most photographers, Mika says, "I'd like to think that I've done something right since some people have liked at least some of my pictures, but I'm quite self-critical about my pictures."
While he likes the idea of HDR images, Mika recognizes that they have a specific feel about them that can feel somewhat artificial. Nowadays he is trying to use it, "more realistically and create pictures that don't necessarily look like HDR images straight away." He enjoys outdoors, and enjoys shooting natural landscapes, which clearly shows in his work. He is also quite at home working in urban landscapes and interiors. In addition to the images he has on Panoramic Earth, Mika has also uploaded some of his work onto Flickr and 360cities. From photography, he is developing an interest in videography and has friends working in the aerial photography business in Finland.