How to clean up a sky?

[Allen]

I'm pretty sure this is just dust on my lens and not dead pixels. What's the best way to clean this up with PS?

[johnastovall]

Clone stamp or healing brush. But's not dust on your lens. It's dust on your sensor. Junk on the lens justs make the image blur not spots. Time to clean the sensor.

[Daniel Bates]

Yep... clean the sensor, and then use the Clone Stamp (or healing brush--I had PS 7, so I don't know about it much) with a feathered brush.

[Allen]

Yikes. You know, I didn't even think of that. Can someone point me in the direction of a good "dust on sensor" thread?

[CaptainTom]

I cleaned the sensors on my 20D and 30D yesterday because I would be shooting in the studio today. It took about 15 minutes total. The first time you do it, it will be slow going, but once you realize how easy it is you'll be doing it for yourself and maybe others who are afraid.

sensor cleaning thread

[Allen]

Here's a better shot of it. Dumb question: could moisture cause this? I had just taken the camera from indoors to out and had the lens fog on me. I just don't remember seeing that much dust before. I haven't taken the lens off for a few days and this was the first day I noticeed it that bad.

[Allen]

thanks for the link.

[CaptainTom]

In order to clearly see the sensor dust you need to have a clean background (sky) and shoot with a small aperture (f22 or so). Because of the extreme DOF, the dust shows up more prominently. In fact, this is the procedure for checking your sensor for dust.


The moisture could have accumulated on the sensor (actually the sensor is covered with a clear protective glass filter. The dust may have been atracted to the water droplets (even though they are very tiny.

[Allen]

Yes, that was shot on f22, something I seldom do, so that explains why I can see it so easily now. Thanks.

[JohnT]

Originally Posted by Allen

Yes, that was shot on f22, something I seldom do, so that explains why I can see it so easily now. Thanks.

For those shots, f/8 or f/11 would have been sufficient, and you possibly wouldn't see the dust. At f/16 and up, you're going to get light diffraction, which will cause diminished sharpness of the image.

Just a little tip I learned a few months ago and wanted to pass along.

[Paul Lara]

Yeah, I'm too lazy to regularly clean my sensor, and if I shoot at f 8 or 5.6, they just don't appear. ;)