I was walking my dog at night and shot several photos, and only this one got many spherical flares on it, and I can't figure why it happened, since the photos I took immediately before and after this one (which were taken only seconds apart), didn't have any of this.
2 Answers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backscatter_(photography)
In photography, backscatter (also called near-camera reflection) is an optical phenomenon resulting in typically circular artifacts on an image, due to the camera's flash being reflected from unfocused motes of dust, water droplets, or other particles in the air or water. It is especially common with modern compact and ultra-compact digital cameras.
The spots are examples of retroreflection — particles of dust, ash, or something else in the air (such as snow) reflecting the light from your flash or flashlight back to the camera.