Digital Wedding Photography For Dummies

Getting Ready for the Next Shoot

Perhaps it’s because I have a type A personality, but I have a lot of difficulty focusing on a task if the things around me aren’t organized and put away. So I like to clean up all my wedding gear and have everything properly stowed before I sit down to start the editing process (described in Chapter 11). In the following sections, I go over a few things you should take care of after a wedding (whether you do it right away or not), like cleaning your camera, checking your settings, and formatting your memory cards.

Cleaning your camera

Even if you’re very careful when switching your lenses and try to keep your camera clean, a time will come when your camera needs cleaning because of dust on the sensor. To determine whether or not your sensor needs cleaning, follow these steps:

1. Take out your camera and set it at the smallest aperture.

2. Point your camera toward a plain white surface (like a piece of paper) and make sure that white is filling the entire frame.

3. Take a picture.

4. Upload the picture to your computer, review the picture on your computer, and increase the contrast of the image. Then zoom in to look for any dark spots.

5. If you see no blemishes in the photo, your sensor is clean. However, if the image has dark spots, your sensor is dirty and should be cleaned.

If your sensor is dirty, you have two options: You can find a sensor-cleaning service (either locally or through the manufacturer) or you can choose to clean the camera ...