Beginner macro safari!

[Lefrash]

If you havent seen my other posts then I'll explain; I'm new to photography and I've got very 'consumer level' equipment. I got an old nikon d80 and a random lens off ebay for a reasonable price. I really fancied learning how to get super close up photography. I've watched about 8 hours of youtube videos and I've read umpteen tutorials so I 'get' how its done. Being a cheapskate I just purchased some extending tubes off amazon for about 10 cabbage. This is the first and only (out of about 200 photos) that is OK enought for me ready for critique. I thoroughly enjoyed the process of setup and the whole trial and error side of things. This Giraffe carving, or atleast the head I mean, is smaller than my pinky. Its not the most articulate of carvings but for some od d reason I've always fancied blwoing it up like this. So here it is. What I've found is, there is somedust and tiny hairs somewhere in the chain. When its a white background they really show up badly. Might just be a lens clean but on the other hand it could be a sensor issue. Any ideas how to test this?





giraffe2 by Fraser Sneddon, on Flickr

 

[jimbosloan]

looks like Dust on the sensor rather than the lens

 

[ChrisA]

Looks like sensor spots that you could clean. Google will show you how to check.

When you get close to things its amazing the dust you can spot on them. Your setup looks to work well btw.

 

[GardenersHelper]

Good start Fraser.

Looks like sensor spots that you could clean. Google will show you how to check.

Yes. For example try https://digital-photography-school.com/sensor-dust-heres-check/

 

[Lefrash]

I've approached the seller of the DSLR and he's agreed to reimburse me the cost of a cleaning kit. It seems pretty simple as long as he correct equipment (and care) is used. that's my job for the weekend.

After looking at some of the other non processed photos I've got, It's clear that its absolutely filthy!

Cheers for the help guys!