Mystery
So Monday night I was taking pictures outside the post office, and while I was there, I took a few shots of the liquor store across the street, realized I didn’t particularly like them, and moved on. When I got home and downloaded, I saw this strange reflection in the image, and I couldn’t figure out where the hell it was coming from.
I e-mailed Say Dempsay, an awesome photography teacher, to ask her what she thought it was. If anybody could figure it out, it would be Say. She had some ideas, for sure, but she said she’d never seen anything like it before and she wasn’t certain of the explanation.
The mystery was deepening.
Tuesday night, I happened to be at that same post office again (this time actually picking up some mail), and I thought, “Hey, I’ll try to replicate that effect and see if it was just something freaky in the air last night.” I took a few shots and, sure enough, there it was again. But this time, I noticed that I could actually move the reflection around the sky, depending on where I pointed the lens. I e-mailed Say and, this time, she actually tried to get the same kind of reflection using a candle in a dark bathroom in her house. (This is why she’s such a great teacher—your obsessions become her obsessions.) She couldn’t get it to happen, but she offered me the use of her camera to see if it was something weird in my camera or lens, or whether it was something I could get to happen in hers, too.
I took pictures with my Canon 5D with my 16-35mm lens and then again with my 50mm lens, and in both situations, I could see the reflection. But I noticed I could see it as I was looking through the glass—even before I hit the shutter release. So it had to be some kind of reflection on the internal elements. But just to be sure, I took out Say’s 5D and I was able to get the same result. (To the left is a crop of the part in question.)
I drove back to campus (where she was in the middle of teaching a class) and showed her the results. We know that there’s some reflection going on with the lens elements, but we don’t know why. And we don’t know why we’re not seeing this same effect in other similar situations.
So what do you think? Have you ever noticed anything like this in your own photographs? Do you have an explanation for it (beyond just knowing that it’s some kind of reflection in the camera)? If so, be a pal and e-mail me—this is the kind of stuff that keeps me up at night.
Copyright © 2007 Liz Kuball
I e-mailed Say Dempsay, an awesome photography teacher, to ask her what she thought it was. If anybody could figure it out, it would be Say. She had some ideas, for sure, but she said she’d never seen anything like it before and she wasn’t certain of the explanation.
The mystery was deepening.
Tuesday night, I happened to be at that same post office again (this time actually picking up some mail), and I thought, “Hey, I’ll try to replicate that effect and see if it was just something freaky in the air last night.” I took a few shots and, sure enough, there it was again. But this time, I noticed that I could actually move the reflection around the sky, depending on where I pointed the lens. I e-mailed Say and, this time, she actually tried to get the same kind of reflection using a candle in a dark bathroom in her house. (This is why she’s such a great teacher—your obsessions become her obsessions.) She couldn’t get it to happen, but she offered me the use of her camera to see if it was something weird in my camera or lens, or whether it was something I could get to happen in hers, too.
Copyright © 2007 Liz Kuball
I took pictures with my Canon 5D with my 16-35mm lens and then again with my 50mm lens, and in both situations, I could see the reflection. But I noticed I could see it as I was looking through the glass—even before I hit the shutter release. So it had to be some kind of reflection on the internal elements. But just to be sure, I took out Say’s 5D and I was able to get the same result. (To the left is a crop of the part in question.)
I drove back to campus (where she was in the middle of teaching a class) and showed her the results. We know that there’s some reflection going on with the lens elements, but we don’t know why. And we don’t know why we’re not seeing this same effect in other similar situations.
So what do you think? Have you ever noticed anything like this in your own photographs? Do you have an explanation for it (beyond just knowing that it’s some kind of reflection in the camera)? If so, be a pal and e-mail me—this is the kind of stuff that keeps me up at night.
Labels: cameras, Canon 5D, Say Dempsay, teachers
posted by Liz at 9:33 PM
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