What are these spots?

LRussoPhoto

Is these spots on the lighthouse just lens flair? I had the hood on. Seems to only happen when shooting into the sun.
Lens was a 24-70 f2.8 sigma, the hood is not very deep.

Earache

Yes, appears to be lens-flare.... A hood offers no advantage when shooting directly at a light source, as you are here.

eyeforimages

LRussoPhoto wrote: »

Is these spots on the lighthouse just lens flair? I had the hood on. Seems to only happen when shooting into the sun.
Lens was a 24-70 f2.8 sigma, the hood is not very deep.

They are dust spots on either your lens or CCD. They become more visible when you shoot directly into the sun, as each dust spot generates a halo around it. Best advice is to give your gear and sensor a good clean...

Cheers

LRussoPhoto

eyeforimages wrote: »

They are dust spots on either your lens or CCD. They become more visible when you shoot directly into the sun, as each dust spot generates a halo around it. Best advice is to give your gear and sensor a good clean...

Cheers

Any suggestions on the best way to do that?

eyeforimages

LRussoPhoto wrote: »

Any suggestions on the best way to do that?

For lenses, make sure you clean both the back and front elements when you clean them. You'll find lots of guides on the web.

For the sensor, I use an Arctic Butterfly, by Visible Dust: http://www.visibledust.com/products3.php?pid=3 -Read all you can about cleaning before you actually clean... you don't want to damage the sensor in the process.

joshhuntnm

Looks like it to me.

Earache

eyeforimages wrote: »

For lenses, make sure you clean both the back and front elements when you clean them. You'll find lots of guides on the web.

For the sensor, I use an Arctic Butterfly, by Visible Dust: http://www.visibledust.com/products3.php?pid=3 -Read all you can about cleaning before you actually clean... you don't want to damage the sensor in the process.

This is good advice, if in fact your camera/lens is "dirty" - and looking at your website it seems you get near dirt quite often - cool shots! I just want to point out a couple of things; DO NOT try to clean your own sensor unless you are 110% comfortable with a technical task like this - professional services for this are not that expensive and should not be needed very often with careful handling of your equipment. You can very easily inspect your lens elements BEFORE you go to rubbing them - dust can be blown off, smears/spots should be evident by inspection and then proper cleaning may be needed. Un-coated (cheap) screw-on filters - UV, skylight etc. can cause reflections and ghosts (shooting at a light source) that look very much like lens-flare and like what I see in your image. I would suggest some test shots trying to duplicate the issue and rule in/out sensor contamination - f22 and up of a clear sky (back to the sun) usually reveals sensor dust. Good Luck!