sensor cleaning

I was asked recently how to take a test shot to find out if you have any dust spots on your sensor, here is my reply


You want pick something plain - clear sky, flat light coloured wall, white piece of paper.

Pick your lens that goes to the smallest aperture (the smaller the aperture (higher F-stop) the more likely these are to show up) and set your camera in either Aperture priority or full manual and take two test shots

one at the smallest aperture possible - this will show every piece of dust, I then ignore this photo but it's up to you, I only take it just to see the difference.
another at F16 - this is usually the smallest aperture I go to (after that you get diffraction reducing sharpness) and see what appears.

If anything shows up at F16 then I clean my sensor.

Then repeat the test shots and see if anything shows up, but don't worry about what is there on the smallest aperture shot if you never shoot using it.

If you have paid to have it cleaned then both shots should be clear.

I will add some photos of test shots next time I clean my sensor.

Christmas Lights

Since we have got all of the decorations out, I decided to use some of them for a photo opportunity, this is a set of green LED lights.


green, a photo by garyd155 on Flickr.

November 2012 Mosaic

Here is my November 2012 mosaic. One month left to go.

November 2012, a photo by garyd155 on Flickr.

Wales at night

A few days ago I was away in Somerset with work so I went out to do some long exposure shots looking out across the Severn Estuary towards Wales. This is straight out of camera and I'll upload edited version when I have the time.


Wales at night, a photo by garyd155 on Flickr.

October 2012 mosaic

A bit late but here is my October mosaic

October 2012 mosaic, a photo by garyd155 on Flickr.

Group Icon Competition win

Two blog posts on a row about the same photo, I entered this into the last group icon competition of the year for my 2012 year in pictures (group link here - http://www.flickr.com/groups/2012yip/) and because nobody else (of the 209 group members) put a photo up this one has been selected by default. 

2012 cover shot, a photo by garyd155 on Flickr.

2012 cover shot

This is the cover shot for my 2012 year in pictures photo project. I cut the 2012 out of a large piece of card, put some barbeque lighter fluid on it and then set it on fire, I'm not 100% happy with it but I knew I'd only get one shot at this.


2012 cover shot, a photo by garyd155 on Flickr.