When I first got my DSLR, one of the things that I got told was that you should NEVER change lenses on a beach. Now, it may seem less obvious to those of you without a DSLR, but the sensors inside the cameras are very sensitive, and it's very easy to get dust behind the lenses and in the sensor area.
But do you think I paid heed to that warning?! LOL! I went to Hermanus in the Western Cape (South Africa) for a few days in December, and we went walking on the most magnificent stretch of beach one evening and I needed another lens on my camera. I tried to put my back to the very strong wind while I changed the lens, but it made little difference. I ended up with dirt on the lens, behind the lens and behind the sensor!
Anyway, to cut a long story short, I eventually had to get the camera professionally cleaned to fix the problem… and there is no way I'll make that mistake again.
The problem with having a dirty lens and camera, is that the speck of dust leaves a black shadow on your photos. It's not really noticeable when you've taken a photo with a busy background, but the minute you take a photo with the sky in the shot or a person with a white shirt, that mark sticks out like a sore thumb. And if you don't fix the mark, your photos immediately look shabby and unprofessional.
I recently saw some head shots of company executives that were taken by a professional photographer, and the marketing person who was trying to use the photos was so annoyed because there were marks on all of the men's shirts! It's such a bad reflection on that photographer, and as a result, that person will probably not get repeat business from that company.
So, with a DSLR be VERY careful where you switch your lenses to keep dust and dirt away from your sensors. And for everyday cleaning of the outside of the lens, get a lens cleaning product, such as the Lens Pen. (Must-have accessory.)
There is a simple fix though… what that photographer should have done… was take out the mark using Photoshop before delivering the product.
There are two ways of fixing the photo… either by using the clone tool or by using the healing brush tool.
- To use the Spot Healing Tool to remove the mark if it's the sky that needs to be fixed, select the spot healing button on the panel.
- You'll see that your cursor changes to something resembling a brush. Make the brush size bigger than the size of the blemish, and just brush over the mark. You'll see that the mark starts to blend into the background of the photo. It's as easy as that!
The moral of the story however, is make sure you keep your lenses clean at all times because fixing the photos after the fact is VERY time-consuming.
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This is why I LOVE my Sony R1 all the goodness of a DSLR with a fixed lens.
Thanks for the tip! I just got a new camera and I'd much rather learn from your mistake than make it again on my own!!
aw yes. my Canon XTi has a automatic sensor cleaning each time I shut it off. love that. I do have to keep the outside of my lens clean though.
great post!
Great tips! I use the Spot Healing and Clone tools all the time. I've heard there is a way to clean the sensor yourself. Do you know how to do this???
Sensor & lens dust is such a PITA. I had an awful time post processing photos from my older DSLR that had dust on the sensor.
Hopefully I have picked up habits to not collect dust on the new one.
Cindy B….I have cleaned the sensor myself on a camera-it is kind of scary because it may not come out of cleaning mode and you may end up damaging the camera. But the dust was so bad on a this used camera that I really didn't have anything to lose.