TIP: Finding Sensor dust quickly using Lightroom 3 Masking

I thought I would pass this on, because it seems to work well for me.

In LR3 I often use the "masking" slider under Develop/detail to avoid sharpening the background, especially the sky. You need to hold the option key on the mac, Alt key on the PC as you do this. Move the Mask slider to the right which turns the image from white (meaning all elements are sharpened) to areas that turn black (meaning sharpening not applied). If you have a lot of sky in your picture or even take a picture of the sky, any stuff on the sensor will show as a tiny white spot. Seems to work regardless of aperture setting. Letting go of the alt/option key, you can zoom in and clone out the spot.

Seems to work even when clouds in sky. I've found very tiny spots quickly this way.

--dennis

PK
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“Loose praise may feed my ego but constructive criticism advances my skills”
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http://www.pbase.com/photokhan
(PBase Supporter)

Thanks for the tip.

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Glenn NK
Victoria, BC

Thanks , I'll give that a try. My sensor is in super need of cleaning right now
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Jerome
5dMk II
http://www.PanoPlanets.com

I just gave this method a try and it does seem to work very nicely, thanks for the tip Dennis!

... just shooting a white wall with the smallest (like f/32) aperture available? Any dust will show very easily...

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Luciano Oliveira

Check this out:

http://digital-photography-school.com/advanced-dust-correction-in-lightroom

It seems easier because you can see them while you edit them, then revert back easily.