Who gives a fig about a dirty sensor

or No Photoshopping - twice!

No Photoshopping 1
This fig tree really is rectangular - I have not clone-stamped bits out of it. I first took a picture of it about a week ago but another picture got blipped instead. I took it again a few days ago but again it was relegated. I knew it would start changing shape soon so I went to the track to the river to take it again today. Each time I have been there someone has come up to me and asked what I'm taking a picture of. Each time I have explained and shown them the picture. Each time they've been very surprised, looked at the tree again then asked, 'Is that tree going to bear any fruit?' So I've pointed out the small figs that are already there and told them that because figs take two years to ripen, these will drop off in next winter's frost. And each person has said, 'Oh, I knew that.' I'm starting to think I've stumbled across some MI5 rendezvous and its codeword.

No Photoshopping 2
This one's much better. For about three months I have had dusty-sensor blotches on pictures from my compact camera which I have been having to Photoshop out of any photo with a plain background. As the blotches have steadily got worse, removing them has been taking more of my time. So today, having scoured the internet for possible solutions, I got out the vacuum cleaner, stuck onto it an extension tube I made out of a water bottle with the base cut off, put the other end over my camera lens and switched on. At the first low-power attempt most of the dust disappeared. At the second higher-power attempt all the rest apart from three specks round the edge of the image vanished. I read that vacuuming creates static so the problem will happen again but for the time being I'm very happy.