dark spots in my photos...what to do?

If you want something in a pinch, these work well too from a local drugstore. Just be sure to blow them out several times before using them on your camera to make sure all the manufacturing dust/dessicant, etc is blown out. Also blow off the rear element of your lens.

http://cvs.com …al-Aspirator?skuId=728132

Thank you everyone for all the suggestions!

missjenniferrae wrote in post #14793335
I have tried searching this on the internet but I don't seem to get a clear answer.

I am getting a LOT of dark spots in my photos recently, especially anything with sky. What are they, and what can I do about it?

Here is an example of the problem

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …/64373362@N08/7​681889280/
Spots by jenniferraeroyals, on Flickr

Thank you in advance :]

Do you change lenses often in the field? If you you may want to revisit your lens changing procedures. You should minimize the amount of time the rear element of you lenses and the body with the lens removed are exposed to the elements. A dusty area, a slight breeze, and there you go. Even in areas with little dust and no breeze, you still want to minimize the exposure time. No matter how diligent you are, dirt will get in over time. But what you have seems like it might be excessive. If could have all occurred from a single event or it may have built up over time.

mwsilver wrote in post #14798464
Do you change lenses often in the field? If you you may want to revisit your lens changing procedures. You should minimize the amount of time the rear element of you lenses and the body with the lens removed are exposed to the elements. A dusty area, a slight breeze, and there you go. Even in areas with little dust and no breeze, you still want to minimize the exposure time. No matter how diligent you are, dirt will get in over time. But what you have seems like it might be excessive. If could have all occurred from a single event or it may have built up over time.

When I do change lenses in the field (about 40% of the time) it is always done in about 3 seconds. The cover comes off and it goes on the camera :/

missjenniferrae wrote in post #14793510
Sheesh, I feel a little embarassed now :/

I have never blown on it with my mouth or canned air or anything. I have never cleaned it. Unfortunately, here in Connecticut there are not a lot of camera service places. I looked some things up online, and examined the sensor, and it really doesn't appear to have anything on it.

Guess I am going to have to look into getting in cleaned somewhere...is it something that they can do right there, or is it something that takes a while? I work as a sports photographer for the local paper, so I can't be without a camera for long :/

Did you use a sensor loop with light to look at your sensor? Did you enable mirror lock up as well as open the shutter before looking at your sensor? I would suspect with that much dust on your sensor you would be able to see something on there just by looking at it with your naked eye. Have a read about sensor cleaning here. http://www.the-digital-picture.com …Tips/Sensor-Cleaning.aspx

Take Care,
Cheers, Patrick

Did you shoot that specifically to show the spots as f22, 1/1600, ISO 1600 is a pretty odd combination and will really show up any dirt on the sensor.

missjenniferrae wrote in post #14798498
When I do change lenses in the field (about 40% of the time) it is always done in about 3 seconds. The cover comes off and it goes on the camera :/

dust can still get in even though you change lens quickly, most clean the sensor at least once a year, sometimes more often

Fitzer wrote in post #14798831
Did you shoot that specifically to show the spots as f22, 1/1600, ISO 1600 is a pretty odd combination and will really show up any dirt on the sensor.

Good point, because DOF naturally increases the greater the distance from you to the subject material, especially at wide focal lengths. On the 50D at 20mm, f8 would have been plenty for this scene, I would think.

Why was your photo shot with f22 and ISO 1600?

You can avoid the spot problem simply by shooting at more reasonable apertures like f/5.6 or f/8.0

based on her other plane shots on flickr, I'd guess she usually shoots between f16 and f22 for these types of shots.

I had just gone from shooting random snapshots in the field to trained in on the planes. I am not a plane photographer, and know very little about it, but I will take these suggestions and try shooting at a different aperture.

I was really just posting the shot to show that the spots show up SOMETIMES and what to do about them.

missjenniferrae wrote in post #14802612
I had just gone from shooting random snapshots in the field to trained in on the planes. I am not a plane photographer, and know very little about it, but I will take these suggestions and try shooting at a different aperture.

I was really just posting the shot to show that the spots show up SOMETIMES and what to do about them.

It really has nothing to do with what specifically you are shooting, but rather how far and at what focal length you are at.

If you are at a wide aperture and shooting objects in the distance, your depth of focus goes to infinity very quickly.

If you would like to play, go to http://dofmaster.com/d​ofjs.html, and plug in any crop body, 7D/50D, etc, put in your focal length, and select an aperture, then look to the right at total to see when it goes to infinity.

TeamSpeed wrote in post #14802629
If you would like to play, go to http://dofmaster.com/d​ofjs.html, and plug in any crop body, 7D/50D, etc, put in your focal length, and select an aperture, then look to the right at total to see when it goes to infinity.

Thanks for the link, TeamSpeed. That's an awesome resource!