One thing I don't like about digital photography -- other than the fact I take way more pictures than I can afford to print -- is that camera sensors are dirt magnets and you have to clean them. I've talked with two professional photojournalists about cleaning sensors, and neither of them like it any more than I do.
Take this photo I got this morning. It's cropped down from the original so you can see what I'm talking about.
The black dot next to the cell tower is the largest of several I see on my images when I'm shooting at a high aperture. This wasn't so high, but the dust or oil spot was so big that it showed up in most of my pictures. When I shoot at f/10 or higher, all sorts of black dots appear on the right side of the image.
I should say "appeared" instead of "appear," thanks to these things.
My sensor is clean now ... I think.
I don't like touching the layer of whatever it is that covers the sensor, but I must do it from time to time. I can remove the dots in Photoshop, like so ...
... but it's better to have a clean sensor. While getting rid of that big spot, I found two fainter ones that probably won't show up unless you really zoom in. Once I knew they were there, I had to get rid of them.
Maybe guys on the boats would say I need to souge my camera from time to time.
