10
votes
Accepted
What is "veiling glare"? How does it affect my photos, and how can I avoid it?
Veiling glare is light that's not intended to be part of the image, per se, but ends up on the recording medium (film or sensor) anyway. It's caused by reflections and scattering of light by optical ...
- 144k
9
votes
What creates a bright green orb "lens flare" with silver or metalic dots on it?
It's a reflection of the image of the sun in the sensor, with the PDAF focus pixel covers reflecting brightly. See: https://www.metabunk.org/orbs-with-dots-focus-pixels-reflection-in-sun-reflection-...
- 91
8
votes
What is the difference between Diffraction Spikes and Lens Flare?
Diffraction spikes are caused by diffraction at the edge of the aperture. The number of spikes relates to the number of blades and the intensity of the effect relates to the exact shape of the blades ...
- 181
7
votes
How can I get prevent ghost sun images when shooting with a solar filter?
Don't use the UV filter.
Not only is it completely useless while using an actual solar filter, it is actively hurting your image by creating reflections. Even if it is the highest-quality UV filter ...
- 33.3k
7
votes
What exactly is the cause for the diffusion of bright objects in these image?
The reason the background is not dark is because there is light shining on it. The same light sources that you are attempting to record directly are also illuminating the areas around the light and ...
- 176k
7
votes
Accepted
What is the cause of a dimmer image of a light source in a photo?
That is most likely the result of an internal reflection between different elements in your lens. Modern coatings can reduce and/or eliminate a lot of internal reflections, but all bets are off when ...
- 5,158
7
votes
What are these strange lines that are visible at sunset?
It's called lens flare. Light from the sun that is just out of frame is striking the surface of your camera's lens or surrounding housing and bouncing around inside the lens. Some of that light is ...
- 176k
7
votes
Accepted
How can I get rid of extra halos from ceiling can lights?
That is an internal reflection... if you have a filter on the lens remove it. It is common for the front element of a lens to be multicoated to reject/reflect light that might cause flare, and that ...
- 19.4k
6
votes
Accepted
What does lens flare from a catadioptric (mirror) lens look like?
Catadioptric lenses are lenses that combine both refractive and mirror elements. A simple mirror lens with no refractive elements is not a catadioptric lens. I've never seen a commercially available ...
- 176k
5
votes
Why is the aperture of this old lens showing as centered blue glare?
Yes, that's because the adapter you're using - it is not possible to adapt Minolta MC/MD lenses to Canon EF while retaining focus to infinity without an adapter that has corrective optics (and ...
- 416
5
votes
Why is the aperture of this old lens showing as centered blue glare?
This looks to me like reflection from the sensor to the rear element and back again. Film is less reflective than digital sensors so some older lenses have either no anti reflective coating on the ...
- 697
5
votes
Accepted
How can I take a picture of a Christmas tree without lens flare around the Christmas lights?
The "diffraction spikes" you are seeing is the result of using a narrow aperture. Some folks refer to such effects as "sunstars." The light travelling through your lens' aperture diaphragm is ...
- 176k
5
votes
X100 Rainbow glare on artificial light
It looks like the lens is greasy. Probably some condensation on the lens.
If it is condensation, it could be on the interior of the lens. See if there is a lot of humidity, or if your camera has moved ...
- 25.4k
4
votes
Accepted
What exactly is this light artifact/flare?
That's just an ordinary flare. It is cat-eye shaped probably because it is reflected from the edge of the lens element - edge of the lens mechanically blocked part of the otherwise round shape. Green-...
- 416
4
votes
Accepted
What causes this bokeh / lens flare effect?
The grid of rainbow flare is caused by strong light reflecting off your camera's sensor pixels, forward towards a surface (such as the rear element of your lens, or perhaps the IR filter over your ...
- 33.3k
4
votes
What is "veiling glare"? How does it affect my photos, and how can I avoid it?
This supplement to mattdm's answer contains a series of images to illustrate the effect that coating technology can have on veiling glare. They were all taken handheld with the camera set to the same ...
- 27.1k
4
votes
ND filters issue - washed out pictures
I believe this is due to a light leak entering between the two ND filters, and the one in front (farthest from the camera body) does not have a light-blocking foam gasket.
Light coming in through the ...
- 33.3k
3
votes
Rainbow flare effect on Industar 50-2
I think the lens flare is a side-effect 2 things: simple Tessar lens design, and little or no coatings on the lens elements. There's probably nothing you can do to "accidentally fix" the flare on this ...
- 33.3k
3
votes
Why I got all this little flares on this picture?
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,...
- 5,069
3
votes
Accepted
Which lens coatings reduce internal reflection?
Lens coatings vary on a lens model by lens model basis. There are quite a few different models of the Pentax Super Takumar 50mm f/1.4. Some had 8 lens elements, some had 7 lens elements. Some had 6 ...
- 176k
3
votes
What is the cause of a dimmer image of a light source in a photo?
Modern camera lenses are an array of multiple lenses. Such designs are necessary to mitigate degrading of the image due to aberrations. We are talking about the fact that all lenses suffer from about ...
- 39.7k
3
votes
Accepted
Would you consider this lens (Samyang 8mm CS II) defective?
After returning that lens and buying the new one, I can conclude with confidence that the first lens was definitely defective.
This new lens is not perfect either, but it performs much better. You can ...
- 173
3
votes
Is the artifact in this photo caused by lens flare?
Yes, it is the headlight. You can make out the aspheric projector element, the round curvature and whatnot.
- 1,057
3
votes
Is the artifact in this photo caused by lens flare?
Looks somewhat like flare from the headlight... Same shape, some specular components that may be from the fender...
- 6,819
3
votes
Is the artifact in this photo caused by lens flare?
The artifact is an inverted and reversed reflection of the bright headlight exactly opposite across the center of the frame (of the original, uncropped image) from the artifact. This is a type of lens ...
- 176k
3
votes
is this normal lens flare or is something wrong with the lens
To my eye, those look like internal reflections of light sources in frame.
This is an unavoidable consequence of mult-element lenses and bright light sources; at every air-glass, glass-air, or glass-...
- 7,229
2
votes
Accepted
How to avoid light flares in long exposure night shots
In addition to Michael Clark's & Count Iblis' very valid suggestions, another solution is to not aim your camera towards exceptionally bright lights, although that may defeat the type of shot you ...
- 289
2
votes
What exactly is this light artifact/flare?
All camera lenses show flare, especially so when a bright light source is in or near the field of view. We can mitigate somewhat by mounting a lens shade. Flare is a scattering of light within the ...
- 39.7k
2
votes
What causes this bokeh / lens flare effect?
The answer has already been given by scottbb, but I'd like to add this photo of a reflection of a small light bulb on the screen of my mobile phone:
In contrast to your photo, this pattern was caused ...
- 480
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