There comes a day when every DSLR owner looks at a 100% magnification of one of their images in Photoshop and gasps, "Where did that dust come from?" Nasty out of focus blobs. Squiggly little dust motes. Hairs. Uggh.

As scary as it may seem there is nothing for it but to clean the camera's sensor. It really isn't that tough to do, but you do need the right tools and approach. Here is the method and the supplies that I use. Work slowly. Work carefully. Use the right supplies and you should have no problem.

Monteverde Sunset. Costa Rica — February, 2003Canon EOS 1Ds with 100-400mm f/5.6L IS lens @ 400mm.ISO 320 1/80sec @ f/9

This is a 100% enlargement of part of the sky in the above photograph.

The Right MaterialsContrary to the urban myths that propagate like viruses on computer discussion boards, no digital camera with interchangeable lenses has a exposed imaging sensor. All either have a glass anti-aliasing filter or an optical glass cover. With the right tools cle...