diff --git a/system/validation/message.php b/system/validation/message.php
index 50d93746..34fc95a1 100644
--- a/system/validation/message.php
+++ b/system/validation/message.php
@@ -88,6 +88,17 @@ class Message {
 	 */
 	private static function get_upload_of_message($rule)
 	{
+		// ---------------------------------------------------------
+		// Upload_Of rules sometimes set a "presence_of" error.
+		//
+		// This occurs when the uploaded file didn't exist and the
+		// "not_required" method was not called.
+		// ---------------------------------------------------------
+		if ($rule->error == 'presence_of')
+		{
+			return static::get_message($rule);
+		}
+
 		// ---------------------------------------------------------
 		// Slice "file_" off of the error type.
 		// ---------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/system/validator.php b/system/validator.php
index 895a22d4..eb4532f0 100644
--- a/system/validator.php
+++ b/system/validator.php
@@ -29,10 +29,15 @@ class Validator {
 	 * @param  mixed  $target
 	 * @return void
 	 */
-	public function __construct($target = array())
+	public function __construct($target = null)
 	{
 		$this->errors = new Validation\Error_Collector;
 
+		if (is_null($target))
+		{
+			$target = Input::get();
+		}
+
 		// ---------------------------------------------------------
 		// If the source is an Eloquent model, use the model's
 		// attributes as the validation attributes.
@@ -46,7 +51,7 @@ class Validator {
 	 * @param  mixed      $target
 	 * @return Validator
 	 */
-	public static function make($target = array())
+	public static function make($target = null)
 	{
 		return new static($target);
 	}