1. A method of identifying the location and dimensions of a contaminant particle on a calibration strip comprising: imaging a calibration strip comprising a plurality of channels arranged in rows and a plurality of pixel columns, wherein each channel comprises a plurality of horizontally adjacent pixels, and each pixel column comprises pixels from a plurality of channels; generating a normalized local average pixel intensity value; and locating a contaminant particle in a pixel column by comparing the pixel intensity value of an individual pixel in the pixel column to the normalized local average pixel intensity value, wherein an individual pixel intensity value less than a predefined limit set below the normalized local average pixel intensity value corresponds to a location of a contaminant particle; and identifying the number of adjacent pixels in a column with pixel intensity values less than the predefined limit set below the normalized local average pixel intensity value.