In the Field: Photo Blog by Richard Wong

Photography field reports by Richard Wong. Richard’s work has been published in magazines, books, advertising, and offers fine art prints of his work. Images may be licensed as rights-managed stock photos by contacting Richard directly at Richard@rwongphoto.com or (626) 422-6151. California stock photography, fine art prints, photo blog: www.rwongphoto.com

San Clemente Pier

Posted on | May 10, 2009 | 9 Comments

San Clemente Pier, California

San Clemente Pier, California

San Clemente was one of the few beaches in Orange County that I hadn’t been to. The fog rolled in late afternoon so I had to wait until dusk for the cool blue colors to bring out my wide angle lens to photograph San Clemente Pier. It gave me another chance to try out the 70-200mm lens on some surfers. It wasn’t really long enough for most surfing action pictures but if I had a 1.4x teleconverter I think that would have been enough.

The most significant thing I learned from the shoot was that the VisibleDust wet cleaning system sucks. My vertical photos have streaky lines in the sky and unusable for the most part. I’ve tried using the cleaning system several times since the beginning of the year and to be honest the streaks are worse than having dust spots. I think I might try one of their Arctic Butterfly brushes next since I’ve read good things about that. It is the most expensive option out there but at this rate I’m probably losing more money in unusable photos than what the brush costs.

The other good dust sensor cleaning tools I’ve heard about is Dust-Aid which I might try if the Arctic Butterfly isn’t any better. Best to keep experimenting with cleaning techniques on my old camera rather than on a new 5D MKII.

See more of my Orange County pictures.

Category: California, Orange County
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Comments

9 Responses to “San Clemente Pier”

  1. Jack Johnson
    May 10th, 2009 @ 10:14 am

    Hi, Richard -

    I’ve had similar issues with the VisibleDust wet cleaning in the past (although I was eventually able to get a clean, streak-free sensor again), so when I got my 5D Mk ii I picked up an Arctic Butterfly. Finally had occasion to use it last night, and it worked a treat! Got rid of the primary offender, a black dot the size of a golf ball (well, OK, not really, but…) as well as several smaller spots that had been on the sensor since I unboxed the camera. One or two tiny spots left, but this is the cleanest the sensor has been since it left the factory, and no worries about streaks or pressure on the filter over the sensor.

    Good luck!

    - Jack

  2. Richard Wong
    May 10th, 2009 @ 10:22 am

    Thanks Jack. That’s great info to know and that you have found something that works. The weird thing about the wet stuff is even after all of the hassle that it is still not entirely dust-free.

    I can live with a speck or two, as long as it doesn’t take 30 min to clean an image.

  3. Ron Niebrugge
    May 10th, 2009 @ 4:38 pm

    Hi Richard,

    Cool image!

    As started reading your post, I though I would link to my Dust-aid post – I see you beat me too it! I haven’t had problems with that product streaking.

    Ron

  4. Richard Wong
    May 10th, 2009 @ 7:20 pm

    Thanks Ron. I decided to try out the wet cleaning method after hearing you talk about it and write about it. I probably should have started off w/ the Dust-Aid.

  5. Thomas
    May 11th, 2009 @ 4:54 am

    WOW…that’s a fabulous composition Richard, The blue color tones reproduced is awesome

  6. Jim Goldstein
    May 11th, 2009 @ 11:26 am

    Great tones. I’ve been here on sunny days and its beautiful, but I also think this is equally as nice. The motion blur works exceptionally well.

  7. Richard Wong
    May 12th, 2009 @ 12:39 am

    Thanks guys. I had originally intended to photograph it as a sunny day but weather doesn’t always cooperate. I think this is probably more interesting as a result since conventional wisdom would associate San Clemente as being bright and sunny.

  8. bernie kasper
    May 14th, 2009 @ 3:00 am

    Beautiful comp Richard I love the sweeping motion and blue light, you did really well with this one !!

  9. Richard Wong
    May 14th, 2009 @ 10:47 pm

    Thanks Bernie. I’ve been trying to make overcast weather work for me lately because that is the one type of that light hardly anyone ever tries to photograph in.

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