What's the reflection?

Hi all,

Been playing with my new EOS 500D, and was inspired by a thread I saw on here to try some pictures of the moon, given it's a clear night and a full moon.

Most came out OK, but some of my experimental shots came out with a weird reflection of the moon - I tried the shot at a few different places, but couldn't see anything that the moon could reflect off in the garden - looking at the picture (there were a few) I'm sure it's a reflection of the moon (initially thought it was an inside light reflecting off something, but checked and they're all off).

Now, I know the image is rubbish and not going to win any prizes (understatement), but wanted to make sure there's nothing wrong with the camera (BTW, moon is in the clouds at the top of the photo), reflection just above the roof)

Lens is one of the additional kit lenses (Tamron 70-300).



A better one is here (any suggestions for improvements?)

It's a lens flare, which is common when there's a bright lightsource in the frame or just outside it when using a hood, or even far outside the frame without a hood.

James Noe said:

Hi all,

Been playing with my new EOS 500D, and was inspired by a thread I saw on here to try some pictures of the moon, given it's a clear night and a full moon.

Most came out OK, but some of my experimental shots came out with a weird reflection of the moon - I tried the shot at a few different places, but couldn't see anything that the moon could reflect off in the garden - looking at the picture (there were a few) I'm sure it's a reflection of the moon (initially thought it was an inside light reflecting off something, but checked and they're all off).

Now, I know the image is rubbish and not going to win any prizes (understatement), but wanted to make sure there's nothing wrong with the camera (BTW, moon is in the clouds at the top of the photo), reflection just above the roof)

Lens is one of the additional kit lenses (Tamron 70-300).



A better one is here (any suggestions for improvements?)

Click to expand...

--
Kind regards
Imqqmi



http://www.pbase.com/imqqmi

imqqmi said:

It's a lens flare, which is common when there's a bright lightsource in the frame or just outside it when using a hood, or even far outside the frame without a hood.

Click to expand...

Thanks!

I thought it could be something like that, but the thing I didn't get was that the 'flare' appears to be a reflection of the moon (rather than a more random light artefact)

Thanks again...

James Noe said:

imqqmi said:

It's a lens flare, which is common when there's a bright lightsource in the frame or just outside it when using a hood, or even far outside the frame without a hood.

Click to expand...

Thanks!

I thought it could be something like that, but the thing I didn't get was that the 'flare' appears to be a reflection of the moon (rather than a more random light artefact)

Thanks again...

Click to expand...

Did you have a filter on your lens?, It looks more like a refection off that than lens flare.
--
http://www.andrewb.photoshare.co.nz/

Land of the Long White cloud ( Aotearoa)

I agree with skyspotter, it may well be due to a cheap filter, take it off and see what happens. I'd only use a filter if there's any chance of damage like sea spray or sand.

I think the outer edge takes the shape of the aperture and the image of whatever the lightsource projects.

Skyspotter said:

James Noe said:

imqqmi said:

It's a lens flare, which is common when there's a bright lightsource in the frame or just outside it when using a hood, or even far outside the frame without a hood.

Click to expand...

Thanks!

I thought it could be something like that, but the thing I didn't get was that the 'flare' appears to be a reflection of the moon (rather than a more random light artefact)

Thanks again...

Click to expand...

Did you have a filter on your lens?, It looks more like a refection off that than lens flare.
--
http://www.andrewb.photoshare.co.nz/

Land of the Long White cloud ( Aotearoa)

Click to expand...

--
Kind regards
Imqqmi



http://www.pbase.com/imqqmi

What Skyspotter and imqqmi said: it's reflections from a filter.

Here's the deal: the front of a digital sensor is much more reflective than the front of a piece of film. When you take a photo of a scene with bright spots in it (like the moon), some of the bright light gets reflected off of the sensor and back out through the lens while the shutter is open.

What you're hoping is that the reflected light will just go through the lens and back out into space (or wherever). But if the light hits a flat reflective surface, it'll be reflected right back into the lens and on toward the sensor. If the reflective surface is nice and flat and perpendicular to the optical axis of the lens, the reflection will hit the sensor exactly 180° from where the original image shows up. That is the telltale, the hallmark, the signature of this type of flare, a flare which is sometimes called ghosting.

Now, it's possible that the flat surface that the reflected light hits is the back side of the front element of your lens. Except for a few expensive lenses, the front element of the lens will be flat on the back. But the lens makers know that they need to be sure that surface is well coated to prevent reflections, so it's rarely the problem.

The problem is almost always an inexpensive, uncoated filter like a UV filter.

I agree with the others who suspect a filiter is causing (actually contributing to) the problem.

The classic symptom is a ghost placed symmetrically on the other side of the frame on a line from the actual object through the frame's center point.

see an example here:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1034&message=20542191

Steve

Thanks for the comprehensive explanation...

I was indeed using an 'inexpensive UV filter' - if the weather is good again tonight will retry without the filter.

Thanks for the explanations!