Photographers - why does this happen?

mbw1024 · Post by **mbw1024** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 12:09 pm

See this dot in my picture. It's on a few of my sunsets in different shapes. Some times half circle. What's going on here, any thoughts?

DCphoto · Post by **DCphoto** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 1:19 pm

It is lens flair, when you point your lens directly in the sun, it sometimes happens. Sometimes you can see it through the viewfinder before you take the photo. If you do see it, try moving right or left before taking the photo. Hope this helps.

Sandy

mbw1024 · Post by **mbw1024** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 2:23 pm

DCphoto wrote:It is lens flair, when you point your lens directly in the sun, it sometimes happens. Sometimes you can see it through the viewfinder before you take the photo. If you do see it, try moving right or left before taking the photo. Hope this helps.

Sandy

thanks. that is what I figured but wasn't sure. never saw it in my view finder that I recall but I will pay more attention next time. I did see it on the LCD display after the picture was taken and then the next one if I moved even slightly it wouldn't show. I had some dust before so wanted to make sure that wasn't the cause.
Thank you,
mary beth

jimg20 · Post by **jimg20** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 11:23 am

Basically, a lens flair is light that comes through the lens, reflects off the media onto the back of the shutter, then returning to the media again. Sometimes it has the six or eight-sided shape of the shutter appature and sometimes there will be multiple flairs in different sizes.

Sandy was right. It only happens when shooting into the Sun. The old lesson when shooting with the simple consumer level point and shoot cameras will cure this. "Always shoot with the Sun coming over your sholder." That prevents lens flairs, but you can't shoot a beautiful sunset like this in that way.

JIM

jmq · Post by **jmq** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 12:30 pm

MB - As suggested, likely a lens flare.

Not uncommon when shooting into the sun. Canon and Nikon optics seem less susceptible, and junk/dust/fingerprints on lens can cause similar. Lens tissue from a camera store is safest to clean lens without scratching.

I've had luck preventing flares by NOT placing the the sun in the middle of the frame. Try taking several shots, one with 2/3 sky and 1/3 land, then 1/3 sky and 2/3 land. Then I usually do the same holding camera vertical. This can make for more interesting shots in addition to reducing potential for flares, although not fool proof as you can still see what is likely a flare in this shot in the lower right between the palm trees.

Later if you want the horizon across the middle of the frame, you can crop it that way. Get a big memory card and shoot at the cameras max resolution so you retain quality when cropping. In the shot above, I can crop out the tree and flare on the right and still have a pretty good picture.

Also use photo edit software that allows you the "Straighten" the the image. IMO it can ruin a nice landscape or sunset shot when the horizon is crooked. Seems like most of mine have to be straightened, even though I take pains to have it look straight when I shoot. SLRs are not as susceptible to this lens/viewfinder parallax problem that point n shoots seem to have.

mbw1024 · Post by **mbw1024** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 1:24 pm

Thanks, John. I have a 2 gig card and I do shoot at max resolution so that's pretty much covered. I really asked the question because I wanted to be sure I wasn't dealing with dust and I don't think I am. I previously had dust on the interior of the camera - can't recall the name of the part - but it was not on the lens, it was contained in the body.

I only showed one picture in the original post but if you saw the series you could see the just by me slight change of angle pretty much corrected that green spot from happening.

Thanks for the advice - just getting myself ready

DCphoto · Post by **DCphoto** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 2:17 pm

The sensor is what gets dust on it. That is what records the image. If you buy a cleaning kit for sensor be very careful. You can damage it very easily. If you have a camera that you can change lens then it will get dirt dust in there easily. If you feel you don't want to take the chance go into any quality camera store and maybe they can help. I use a bulb blower to clean my sensors. Don't ever use canned air.

Sandy

mbw1024 · Post by **mbw1024** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 2:20 pm

DCphoto wrote:The sensor is what gets dust on it. That is what records the image. If you buy a cleaning kit for sensor be very careful. You can damage it very easily. If you have a camera that you can change lens then it will get dirt dust in there easily. If you feel you don't want to take the chance go into any quality camera store and maybe they can help. I use a bulb blower to clean my sensors. Don't ever use canned air.

Sandy

Thanks. This is what happened and I had it cleaned by a professional. All better now

Ashley Photography · Post by **Ashley Photography** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 1:15 pm

The spot that is at 8 oclock is a sun glare. The stop at 2 is a water spot.

I don't know how to post a photo, but if I did, I actually circled both.

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