Before my Southern California trip last month I was careful to clean my sensor, and I took test photos to ensure that I had done the job well. Red Rock Canyon State Park, Malibu, Corona del Mar… sure, I picked up a dust spot here and there, but everything was going fine until +Lori Hibbett and I decided to make one more stop before the photowalk in La Jolla.
We stopped at the Carlsbad Flower Fields, where you can shoot for personal use for $11. There were signs noting special permission was required for professional photography, and there were monitors driving around on golf carts in case someone looked like they were shooting professional portraits. I started with a 16-35mm lens on, but there are a lot of buildings in the background, plus a lot of people walking around, so 70 – 200mm seemed like a better way to isolate the flowers from the surrounding distractions. I walked around one of the large plots of flowers, found a few compositions. We moved on to la Jolla and checked into our hotel just in time for the photowalk.
The photowalk was a blast, there was plenty of room for everyone to spread out along the rocks and reefs, but when I looked at my photos later, it was clear that I'd have a little dust spot removal to do, and the spots were smaller and more numerous than usual. I guess the lesson learned is that when you're going to be surrounded by flowers extending for miles, make sure you make your lens selection and change before you get out of the car!
Carlsbad Flower Fields
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You are awesome man :-)
Wonderful colors Jeff. Its amazing and annoying how dust sneaks in at times.
Love the Looks of that colourful field full of life& natural beauty :))+Jeff Sullivan
really good advice - thanks!!!
Bad enough the pollen messes up your nose - it messes up sensors too. Good tip.
Wow thx for the flowers,that's the only flowers I'm getting this yr.! Lol
wow super
Just goes to show that the "dust" we see on our sensors often isn't the kind we think of as visible and blowing around in the air, it's the smaller specks, often pollen, coming from not only flowers, but at times trees and grass as well. Our neighbor's juniper bushes were throwing off huge clouds of pollen in the wind a couple of weeks ago, and as Yosemite's Tioga Pass opens in about a week, the trees up there will be turning the lakes into seas of yellow.
... or on a playground surfaced with bark chips and filled with running children. (Having just required a major sensor cleaning as a result of a single weekend shoot ...)
Très jolie photos magnifique fleurs