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Great capture of a fun moment! I really love the colours.! Loreen, do you see a few dark spots on the sky? They are on your sensor. Read the manual how to get rid of them. I have them too and didn't take my camera for cleaning yet, because the spots are not seen on colour :) So for now you have to remove them with the software you use. Warm regards, Tamara

Thanks, Tamara! I had seen the spots, but did not know what they were from or how to get rid of them.

 

Thanks for viewing. All critiques and comments welcome.

Hi Lorren,

It is fun, outdoor activities that make for great photos. Nice work.

As for the spots, these are most likely on the cover glass in front of the sensor. They can often be removed using a clean air source, like Dust Off in a can. Be certain not to tilt or shake the can, since propellant can leave more spots on the glass.

For a quick clean, I remove the lens, place the camera on 30 seconds and fire the shutter. For the.time that the shutter is open, you can easily blast the clean air across the sensor area.

I suggest giving the rear element of your lens a blast., too. Sometimes, debris from the backside of the lens can cast shadows, too. debris n the from side will not. 

There are very good cleaning kits available from stores like B&H Photo or Adorama camera, especially for digital cameras. Follow the camera setup procedures and these kits will do the same level of cleaning as any service center.

The spots are best noticed in pictures where you stopped down the lens far, like F/14. The bright background sky allows the small aperture of the lens to cast a shadow of the debris onto the sensor.

In many scenes, this is not well seen, because of all the components present.

For many reasons other than "spots", you should use all your lens at lower f-numbers, like F/5.6, as this provides better lens performance than does stopping down the lens. The amount of light getting to the sensor can easily be controlled by ISO and shutter speed selection.

Last point, the 22mm lens you used has a very large DOF , even at F/4 or F/5.6, so the F/14 set point does not help out for DOF, but does reduce the lens capability.

Best Regards,  Mike 

Thanks so much, Mike. I really appreciate the time you take to help. 

I had not yet attempted anything to take care of the spots, as they had not shown up in any other pictures, and I have to admit, I was a bit nervous about taking the lense off and doing anything to the inside of the camera. I think I feel confident enough now, using your information, to take care of that.

Thank you, too, for the information about the lower fstops, and working with that lense. As I only have two lenses, it is important to get the best performance I can out of them. :)