Aware of the hardcopy Locals in Motion pieces Jim Bohen and I do on the local car scene, Bo Vescio invited me up to Rogers to check out his shop, Vescios Customizing and Restoration. When time permits, pro photographer Tom Witta from the paper will join me on a shoot, but this time I didn’t give him enough notice.

My 10 megapixel Olympus Stylus digital is a smart little machine and usually up to the task. This shoot was an exception. There are lots of cool projects underway here that I hoped to show everyone. Yet the camera started seeing spots. A first guess for why was a dirty lens (or lens filter).

But the spots moved, changing size, number, and position in the frame. I cleaned the lens (filter–it’s not removable) to little avail. The spots still appeared randomly, typically in shots that involved a dim foreground with a bright light in the background.

This is a restoration shop, so there is sanding dust in the air. Still, the behavior is hard to explain through either floating particles or something in a fixed position on the lens. Too bad, because there was a cool ‘68 Charger in the works that we wanted to pair up beside a new one for a contrast shot. None of those photos was spot (or rather spot off)–though a couple in the 50 or so taken look half decent in small size.

Lots of smart people peruse these posts. Anybody had a similar experience?

Fortunately, there’s a dog on the premises and adding a nice dog always helps a photograph…. ‘Course the crew’s a photogenic lot too–where’s Monster Garage, Minnesota edition?

Dear Kris,
Great composition on the group photo. Upon further review, the spots are dust particles in the air that are glowing due to your on camera flash. I think…….
Next time give a guy a little notice.
Tom Witta
Hah! Thanks Tom.
You know, there are times when I\’d like the flash not to go off, but I haven\’t been able to find the control for that. Better set the owner\’s manual on the nightstand. KP
One of the first things I learned on my digital was how to turn off the flash and do time exposures with a tripod. Would work here, IMHO.
Wow. A ‘41 Ford tudor sedan. Don’t see many of those anymore………
Looks even better when it’s not all spotty.
Yeah, I’ll have to hunt down that flash-off command. It’s not on the camera’s menus but there must be way. The times I’ve put my thumb over it, it’s made the photo red.
MotorMouth Kris Palmer, freelance auto writer and editor, blogs about vintage cars, the collectible auto scene and just about anything else that goes vroom.
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