Cleaning the Inevitable Dirty Sensor

Sooner or later it happens to all DSLR owners. The sensor gets enough dirt, dust and grime on it that it begins to show in your images and is taking too much time in PP work to remove.

A quick simple wipe of the sensor did the trick for me. Check it out in the full post.

I got tired of the accumulated dirt on my sensor and decided to do something about it. I was going to buy a cleaning kit, and still might, but before I did that I wanted to try it myself with a few items I had lying around the house.

I grabbed some cotton swabs and a bottle of window cleaner. "Woah there Nelly!" I'm sure some of you are saying, "That's a delicate instrument there and you don't want to mess it up". Well, I hear ya, but here is my reasoning behind why I thought this was OK to do.

First off, the sensor is behind several panes of glass (filters) so any contact is not done on the actual sensor itself. The IR filter is glass so why not use glass cleaner on it?

Second off, I'm sure the sensor unit is sealed and no liquid can get on in the sensor. Right?

Armed with this knowledge I decided to try the cotton swab alone to gently wipe the IR filter. As I suspected it didn't remove any spots. The camera's built-in sensor cleaner (the clunk-clunk) hadn't shaken any dirt loose so why would a quick gentle wipe with a Q-Tip do any better.

So I decided to just barely (feathered the spray) on the cotton swab and used my fingers to get the light mist to soak into the swab.

I then used a gentle sideways sweeping motion to clean the IR filter. It worked great. The only visible item was a fresh cotton fiber from the cotton swab. Another gentle swipe removed this fiber and the sensor was clean enough for use.

Even though there was no visible dirt on the sensor I wanted to see if any thing would become visible with an extreme contrast adjustment. Sure enough there was a smudge visible. But it's not enough to worry about. I most likely will introduce more lint on the now spotless IR filter. So I'm leaving it.


So why this experiment? To see if in dire straits the IR filter could be cleaned with cotton swab and glass cleaner when a kit wasn't handy. Do I recommend doing this under normal circumstances? Probably not. Buy a kit with lint free tip and cleaning solution that is approved for your camera. If you're stuck on a deserted island with a dirty sensor and a crate of Q-Tips and Windex washes ashore, go ahead and clean the sensor.

Until next time, go shoot something with your clean sensor!

Edit 29 Apr 09: Edited wording on sealed sensor and liquid getting in the sensor.

Read the full article here!

OT: Teriyaki Chicken Fried Rice with Tomato Cucumber Salad

I know, I know, not photographic in nature at all but I literally threw some left over items from the fridge together and created a dish that turned out really great. I never even thought about photographing it or writing the recipie down until it was all eaten and I realized how good the combination was.

To see what I grabbed from the fridge read the rest.

For the fried rice portion:

- 2 eggs (the only thing not left over)
- 1 BBQ Teriyaki chicken breast chopped (already cooked, left over from BBQ)
- 2 cups left over rice
- 1/2 left over onion chopped
- 1/4 left over green pepper chopped
- garlic powder to taste (abt 1 tblsp)
- black pepper to taste (abt 1 tblsp)
- crushed red pepper to taste (abt 1 tsp)

- Fry chopped green peppers, onions and spices on med heat for abt 5 mins.
- Mix in the chopped Teriyaki chicken and cook for a couple more minutes.
- Pull the mixture to one side of the pan to make room to cook the eggs.
- Scramble the eggs and cook till just done.
- Add the rice and mix with the eggs and chicken. Cook for another 2 minutes.
- Turn stove to low to keep warm.

For the salad:

- 3 1/4" slices of left over lettuce
- 1 small tomato
- 1/4 cucumber 3/4 peeled (left 1/4 of rind intact)
- Black pepper to season

- Chop the lettuce, tomato and cucumber into small chunks.
- Sprinkle with black pepper to taste.

To serve, place 1/2 the rice on one half of the plate and place 1/2 the salad on the other half.

Mix equal portions of the salad with the fried rice and eat.

Feeds 2 adults or 3 kids.

Someone please recommend a drink and it's a complete meal!

Read the full article here!

Dual Strobe Lighting P-TTL

In the last article in this series we talked about using a single strobe in wireless P-TTL mode to light a portrait. Now it's time to move on to the first article in dual strobes, one to light the subject and one to light the subject.

As you can see comparing this photo to the ones in the previous article the background is fully lit and there is much better separation between the subject and the background. You'll notice some kick light on the subjects temple and hair. A kick light, or kicker, is a separate light that is used to highlight a certain spot on the subject. Similar to a hair light, a kicker is used to highlight certain parts like cheekbones, lips, jewelery etc, where a hair light will only be placed on the hair.

To use the background light dual purpose as a kicker you put an umbrella on it. Then position the umbrella so the main light falls on the background and the edge of the umbrella is pointing at the subject. You can also by repositioning or blocking the background light use it dual purpose only as a hair light.


The spill off the edge of the umbrella will add the kick. Now unlike a separate kick light you won't have much control of where the light spills, but you can feather the light to control, somewhat, the amount of kick light. Feather means to turn the light source so only the edge of the light is being used. The more you turn the light away the less light is being spilled on the subject. Depending on the umbrella size, distance and location, you may not be able to totally remove all the kick light. In that case you will have to shield the light from the subject by either removing the umbrella or using a gobo. A gobo is a lighting term for go between and is used to block light from areas where no light is wanted.

In the next article we'll use the dual strobes to light the subject on two sides and get some contrast shots. I hope you will join us then.

Read the full article here!

Single Strobe Lighting P-TTL

Let me start off this post with an apology for the large gap between posts in this series. The gap is so long that I recommend you quickly preview the previous article in the Wireless P-TTL series, Single Strobe Lighting (Preparation), so you can get caught back up. I know I had to read again it so there would be some sense of flow between the articles.

For this single strobe shot the light was placed halfway between the camera and the subject and the lens. I wanted a relatively large light source so I had to put the umbrella up close. The camera was positioned to shoot under and to the right of the umbrella which is just off frame enough for the lens hood to block the flare. The on camera flash was fired in this shot (accidentally actually) but added an almost ring light appearance seen in fashion shots that make the face kind of glow. It did however add a shadow to the background (seen just to the left of the subject).


As you can see it is quite possible to get good and usable results with just a single strobe and in this case, fill from your built in flash.

In this shot I set the built-in flash to not fire during the capture. This is commander mode. You can see the difference, the glow is different as there is no spectral lighting reflected off the face. It is lacking the "ring light" look but still a decent enough image to make a print of. At least my wife thinks so. ;)

If you wanted a little more contrast ratio on the face then just move the umbrella more to one side. You can position the light at the more traditional 45 degrees (side and up) for the Rembrandt look and use a white foam core or poster board as reflected fill. The possibilities are almost endless, especially if you incorporate some outdoor light into the shot.

These images were captured at f4 ISO 100 and the default shutter speed of 1/180. If you wanted to brighten up the background then you could drag the shutter a little to allow more ambient light on the sensor. This will have no affect on the strobe light as that is controlled solely by the aperture of the lens. However, if there was any ambient falling on the subject (as was the case here - shot under the carport on the north side of the house) then it will affect that lighting also. I wanted f4 to blur the background and any faster shutter speed would have made the background too dark. Any slower and the ambient would have taken precedence on the face. So we get what we get in the middle ground.

In the next article we'll talk about using a background light to get some separation between subject and background and even use the same light to provide a little kicker. See you then!

Read the full article here!

Light - Science & Magic, a book review

A good photograph is made up of several elements. If one of those elements is lacking then the photo is not as good as it could be. Some important elements are technical (focus/exposure/DoF), composition, color scheme, and subjectively, subject matter. Another very important element to consider when creating a good photograph is lighting. It is very often overlooked and we snap the camera shutter more times than naught without giving the lighting much consideration.

If you want to drastically improve your photography then I highly recommend studying light and how it interacts with your subject. By learning this you can learn to manipulate that light to improve your images. I think a lot of photographers (especially the readers of this blog) know a little about light, that midday sun creates harsh shadows, the better light is morning or afternoon and will reduce the harshness, or that large shade areas will produce nice soft lighting. However there is much more to light than that especially when lighting still life or portraits. Armed with this knowledge you will know how to better light your subject in a given situation and get the best image possible under the circumstances.

A book I highly recommend on lighting is called Light - Science & Magic 3rd ed by Focal Press. It is written by Fil Hunter, Steven Biver and Paul Fuqua. The book will teach you how light interacts with matter and how you can modify the light to produce better images. The book is on it's third edition now, and not that light has changed since creation, the book has been updated to include new technology and just as important an updated modern look.

(more details in the full post)


The book is comprised of 10 chapters that cover such topics as how to learn lighting, light: the raw material in photography, managing reflections and the family of angles, surfaces, shape and contour, metal, glass, portraiture, digital cameras, white on white and black on black, portable lighting and much more.

Rather than teach lighting styles, Light - Science & Magic teaches how the light interacts with the subject matter and lets you decide (based on what equipment you have) how and what light to modify to create the result you want. The book's examples are mostly still life examples shot with hot lights or strobes. If you shoot mostly available light outdoors, don't let this sway you from considering this book. Outdoor sunlight behaves in exactly the same way, it's just easier to control in a studio environment. There are light modifiers, natural or man made, that you can use to control the light outdoors. Once you learn the light you can then use your own creativity to modify it to create your own style.

Light - Science & Magic is well written with clear example photographs and technical diagrams. If you have an understanding of the basic photographic terms then you will have no problem learning from this book. It teaches you using layman's terms and introduces lighting language as it progresses. By the time you are done reading the book you will know what a gobo and a grid are and what direct and diffuse mean. What's more important is even if you know what those terms are now, you will be able to manipulate them to improve your photographs.

So get the book, it's money well spent and you will, bad pun intended, walk away looking at light in a different light.

Read the full article here!

Remote Focus Trap

Imagine setting the camera on a tripod and focusing the lens at a predefined area and when something moves into the focus area the camera automatically captures the image. This is what is called focus trap and in this sense it is a "real" focus trap where no human intervention is needed to release the shutter. The subject being photographed triggers the camera shutter via the focus sensor.

In the above photo I used the Tamron AF75-300LD Macro lens with some tape over the AF contact. I set lens aperture to f8 and the camera mode to manual. I set the toggle switch on the cable release and went and sat under the carport enjoying the warm afternoon and drinking a coke zero.

[edit 10 Apr 09 - I just bought a 3/32 stereo plug from Radio Shack ($2.99) and soldered a jumper across the tip and ring and to ground. This makes it an always on switch for remote shooting. Just set the focus trap and plug it in the camera's remote shutter jack. No tripping over cables and knocking your camera off point.]

In the previous article we discussed how to set up the K10D for focus trap using the camera's built-in shutter release. In this article we'll go over how to use the focus trap with a remote cable shutter release to turn the K10D into an automatic photo taking machine.


Here is what you will need to accomplish this.

Setup your camera using the instructions in the previous post but you will also need to turn on the 'AF in remote control' in the custom menu. Just like the half press method, we have to tell the camera to turn on the auto focus sensor so it can detect when something is in focus.

You also need to turn on continuous frame mode in the function menu. This will make the camera shutter release continuously while something is triggering the AF sensor. If you use the built-in flash as a trigger for a remote flash then you set the release while charging feature to off and the shutter will not release until the built-in flash has charged back up. This will reduce or eliminate the number of dark photos in the sequence where no flash fires.

If you have a cable release that activates the camera's auto focus while releasing the shutter with one button and has the ability to lock the shutter open then you will not have to modify the cable release.

However if you are like me and have a DIY/homebrew cable release you will have to link the AF to the shutter toggle switch. This is accomplished by adding a jumper wire from the open side of the toggle switch (bulb mode) to the AF wire from the camera. Now when you release the shutter the AF is also engaged so the sensors are activated for the focus trap.

Now the camera should be ready for a test. Set up the camera on a tripod, prefocus the lens to an area where the subject is likely to appear and set the shutter release toggle switch on the cable remote.

Go walk into the focus area or if the area is small move your hand into the focus area and see if the camera's shutter fires. If not move your hand a little slower and if that doesn't work check the camera settings again. Remember, there has to be enough light on the subject and enough contrast for the focus sensor to trigger the shutter. If your are in too dark an area then you will have to look at a beam break, motion, or sound sensor to release the shutter.

I hope you enjoyed this little series on focus traps and use this little trick to take some great photographs. Post some links in the comments if you like.

Read the full article here!