I performed Open Heart Surgery last week (sensor clean)

[F.Gordon]

Does anyone want to buy a slightly damaged Canon 20D?
:rofl:

Actually... it was very easy. Long over due. Got tired of cloning out dirty sensor spots. I used the Visible Dust method. Charged a brush. Wore a painters mask to keep gunk from flying out of my mouth onto the sensor. Got it completely clean. I mean.... COMPLETELY clean.
:)

And now..... what I "might" enter for the Archie Contest. This pixie has a nostalgic signficance to me. It was my first contest entry that I withdrew and it became a non-entry. That was about a year ago, so to celebrate the anniversary... and to freak out intheflow by doing some "extreme processing"
:evilgrin:

(this was done using a 3-D filter that works pretty good on archie stuff. Old tourist snap I took with my Nikon Coolpix 950)



(and this using the 3-D filter with the F.Gordon Top Secret 6-Step funkydelilickious method)



I'm going through serious snap withdrawal. Haven't been out snappin' in like... forever. Doubt I'll be able to come up with anything new for the archie thing. If not the snap above I'll have to dig through my pile of pixie dung and see what I can come up with.
:hi:

Edit? Too many things to mention

[intheflow]

1. That shot is SO much better in color!

It does nothing for me at all in B&W.

I'm not exactly going through photo withdrawal, but I sure am going through "pretty photo" withdrawal. I'm beginning to really look forward to returning this summer and going on photo expeditions. We'll drop Mrs. F. off at some antiques gallery and do that shooting trip we're always talking about then. :hi:

[F.Gordon]

2. Too funky for ya' ? (the B&W?)

You just don't know real art when you see it.
:rofl:

Lookin' forward to a few photo expeditions this year.
:hi:

This is another funky Nikon 950 tourist snap I played with. I call it The Standerling.
I probably won't enter either of these. Have something else picked out. This is just "it's late at night - I'm fried - can't sleep" kinda stuff I've been playing with...

[regnaD kciN]

7. Was that taken from Caesars or the Bellagio?

I can see the back of the Bellagio, some smaller hotel (Holiday Inn Boardwalk?), the Monte Carlo, New York New York, Excalibur, Luxor, and Mandalay Bay. I can't tell what those Moorish buildings with the onion domes belong to, though.

I must say, that's the only time I've seen a Vegas photo that makes it look like an early 20th Century image...amd not anywhere in the middle of a desert.

[F.Gordon]

9. Neither. Was taken from opposite side of Paris

Bellagio is across the street to the right, out of view. Thanks for the comments. When Ms F saw it she didn't recognize it at first. Thought it was some "foreign" city. When I have time I want to futz with it more.... "shut off" the lights and street marquees.... remove the cars and people. Take out all the signs of life.

[lakemonster11]

6. I like the black-and-white okay, but I agree that the color is

too good to get rid of. It could use some levels and color adjustments:

[F.Gordon]

8. Thank you. That is *much* better

I seem to always get so wrapped up in the recipe that I often forget to add all the ingredients.

[Blue_In_AK]

3. That building kind of reminds me of the old Kennicott mine

[F.Gordon]

4. See. That's ONE I remember from your prior posts

And that's an excellent archie shot.
:thumbsup:

Cept' mine was taken in the deep wilds :crazy: of Disneyland (or California Sumtin' Park??? don't remember) I do remember that it was taken on September 10, 2001. Needless to say... our vacation was cut short.
:-(

[Blue_In_AK]

5. If I were going to use this shot

I'd probably work on the lighting a little bit as it seems kind of dark and washed out to me. I think I'm going to try to get out and take a photo of something around town if I can get caught up on my regular work in the next couple of days. I've been so busy whipping things into shape next door that my transcribing has fallen behind. I hate how work keeps interfering with my real life.

[Boo_Radley]

10. Any tips for the cleaning?

I've been sending my D70 off once a year for a complete cleaning. Outside of that, I use an air shooting thing to blast it out from time to time.

[F.Gordon]

11. Only tip I can offer is what I did

I got a bunch of Visible Dust cleaning supplies. To clean the sensor I opened the camera up and layed it flat and used a small light to see what I was doing. Wore a painters mask to keep from exhaling anything onto the sensor. Using a can of compressed air I sprayed the Sensor Brush for about 10 seconds to "charge" it. (I also got their Hurricane Blower that I can carry with me since I don't think cans of compressed air go over real well with TIA people at the airport) Then just used the brush to clean the sensor... running once in one direction... flipped the brush over... and ran it once in the other direction. That's it. Quick and easy.

My local Wolf Camera wanted something like $80 to clean my sensor and I'd be camera-less for a week or two. The cleaning supplies cost about $140 but now I can clean it when ever the need arises, and the "need" can arise everytime you change lenses... no matter how careful you are. On my last outing to NJ/PA my sensor got really filthy after the first day but I had no way to clean it. Now, if I ever do an "away" outing again I can clean the sensor every night or as the "need" arises.

Don't know if that was helpful or not. While it is quick and easy to do this, you still need to careful... slow and steady with the brush.