Mid-late October was a foggy one around here in Tacoma. It was a thick fog that just never really went away for the better part of a week. Much like an overcast day, fog typically produces some pretty bland, grey photos without any lighting intervention....
High resolution sensors and unbelievable lens optics, they are the last thing you want getting dirty. When we bring up the topic of dust, it's usually in a manner of how to get rid of it and keep it from being a factor in the first place. Lots of attention is given to minimize any encounters with the pesky stuff, and there is a huge market for sensor and lens cleaning tools. It's true, the last thing I want to see is dust covering my photo equipment. There are times that... well, all of that dust in the air, constantly finding it's way to thwart your quest for optical perfection, can actually come in handy. In fact, sometimes this stuff we've grown to curse at can have a power influence in our imagery. It may, if I dare mention, occasionally take a photo destined for failure into a successful capture. Light, it's an elusive medium. Unless it's bouncing off of something (and reflecting into our eyes), we just don't see it. Light travels in a straight line, so unless there is something to redirect it into your peepers it'll continue on it's merry way, and your retina are none the wiser. It fails to translate into something we or our cameras can see unless it's got a medium to collide into. It's the reason you can walk into an old barn or other location where there is an abundance of particles in the air and you can see these beautiful beams of light entering from a window or other light source. Light is rocketing through the air and impacting with dust, reflecting light into your eye. There are of course other mediums the light can be flying through that can reveal it's path, like fog or clouds, etc. You gotta have something in the air to allow this light to be clearly visible. Specialty light, like some lasers are a completely different topic, so what we are talking about here are the types of light photographers are usually dealing with (the sun, other typical ambient sources, and flash lighting).
