What caused these 'blotches'?

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

Has anyone seen this before?

I'm trying to figure out why some of my photos of this old house
undergoing renovation have whitish circles on them and others don't.

Yeah, the house is reportedly haunted. My mind's wide open. But what
ELSE could cause the spots?

http://cda.morris.umn.edu/~webbrl/SawyerSep2005/

Thanks if you can help. RW
--

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

>Yeah, the house is reportedly haunted. My mind's wide open. But what
>ELSE could cause the spots?

Flare.
And no, that ain't the name of the ghost.

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

"Rebecca Webb" <webbrl@morris.umn.edu> wrote in message
news:webbrl-1209050939170001@educ-dyn6.morris.umn.edu...
> Has anyone seen this before?
>
> I'm trying to figure out why some of my photos of this old house
> undergoing renovation have whitish circles on them and others don't.
>
> Yeah, the house is reportedly haunted. My mind's wide open. But what
> ELSE could cause the spots?
>
> http://cda.morris.umn.edu/~webbrl/SawyerSep2005/
>
> Thanks if you can help. RW
> --

It's definitely a ghost. One of those ghosts that specializes in appearing
through white blotches that only appear on photographs taken by digital
cameras with dirty sensors and flareful lenses.

Eric Miller

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

Eric Miller wrote:
> "Rebecca Webb" <webbrl@morris.umn.edu> wrote in message
> news:webbrl-1209050939170001@educ-dyn6.morris.umn.edu...
>> Has anyone seen this before?
>>
>> I'm trying to figure out why some of my photos of this old house
>> undergoing renovation have whitish circles on them and others don't.
>>
>> Yeah, the house is reportedly haunted. My mind's wide open. But what
>> ELSE could cause the spots?
>>
>> http://cda.morris.umn.edu/~webbrl/SawyerSep2005/
>>
>> Thanks if you can help. RW
>> --
>
> It's definitely a ghost. One of those ghosts that specializes in appearing
> through white blotches that only appear on photographs taken by digital
> cameras with dirty sensors and flareful lenses.
>
> Eric Miller
>
>
No, Eric, they will occur on a film camera, under the same
circumstances. I used to blame them on the photo processor not drying
the film properly, but the cause is simpler, and can be demonstrated
experimentally.


--
Ron Hunter rphunter@charter.net

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

In article <webbrl-1209051031560001@educ-dyn6.morris.umn.edu>,
webbrl@morris.umn.edu (Rebecca Webb) wrote:

> > Dust on the lens or in the air illuminated by the flash.
>
> But shouldn't there have been more of them in the rooms that were dusty?
> The rooms where they appear are the cleanest, and the rooms nearest the
> torn up stairs don't have any...

Oh, wait. Maybe the flash didn't go off in those dustier (but better lit
via window sunlight?) rooms...
--

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

On Mon, 12 Sep 2005 09:39:17 -0500, webbrl@morris.umn.edu (Rebecca
Webb) wrote:

>Has anyone seen this before?
>
>I'm trying to figure out why some of my photos of this old house
>undergoing renovation have whitish circles on them and others don't.
>
>Yeah, the house is reportedly haunted. My mind's wide open. But what
>ELSE could cause the spots?
>
>http://cda.morris.umn.edu/~webbrl/SawyerSep2005/
>
>Thanks if you can help. RW

It's nothing more than dust in the air, being lit by the flash.

--
Bill Funk
Replace "g" with "a"
funktionality.blogspot.com

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

On Mon, 12 Sep 2005 09:45:17 -0700, Bill Funk
<BigBill@pipping.com.com> wrote:

>On Mon, 12 Sep 2005 09:39:17 -0500, webbrl@morris.umn.edu (Rebecca
>Webb) wrote:
>
>>Has anyone seen this before?
>>
>>I'm trying to figure out why some of my photos of this old house
>>undergoing renovation have whitish circles on them and others don't.
>>
>>Yeah, the house is reportedly haunted. My mind's wide open. But what
>>ELSE could cause the spots?
>>
>>http://cda.morris.umn.edu/~webbrl/SawyerSep2005/
>>
>>Thanks if you can help. RW
>
>It's nothing more than dust in the air, being lit by the flash.

Unfortunately, there are a great many custard heads out there who
don't know that.

http://theshadowlands.net/ghost/orbs.htm

They have a whole folklore about "orbs"

Here's a nice debunking of such nonsense.

http://www.lioddities.com/ghost/debunked%20main.htm


****************************************************

"The booksellers are generous liberal-minded men."

Samuel Johnson
"Life of Johnson" (J. Boswell), Vol. I, 1756

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

Rebecca Webb wrote:
>>Dust on the lens or in the air illuminated by the flash.
>
> But shouldn't there have been more of them in the rooms that were dusty?
> The rooms where they appear are the cleanest, and the rooms nearest the
> torn up stairs don't have any...

They are undoubtably dust out of focus in the near field of the lens and
illuminated by the flash. Use a flash off the camera if you wish to
avoid this problem. It is a matter of pure luck whether or not a dust
particle is in the right zone to produce an offensive blotch or not.

It is very tricky in a snowstorm when working with on camera flash!

Regards,
Martin Brown

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

On Mon, 12 Sep 2005 18:02:15 -0400, Minou <ndamaw@nokiddingyahoo.com>
wrote:

>On 9/12/05 10:59 AM, in article st5bi1dq6ae2mae6l3k67sveuqkj8l89mk@4ax.com,
>"Ed Ruf" <egruf_usenet@cox.net> wrote:
>
>> On Mon, 12 Sep 2005 09:39:17 -0500, in rec.photo.digital
>> webbrl@morris.umn.edu (Rebecca Webb) wrote:
>>
>>> Has anyone seen this before?
>>>
>>> I'm trying to figure out why some of my photos of this old house
>>> undergoing renovation have whitish circles on them and others don't.
>>>
>>> Yeah, the house is reportedly haunted. My mind's wide open. But what
>>> ELSE could cause the spots?
>>>
>>> http://cda.morris.umn.edu/~webbrl/SawyerSep2005/
>>>
>>> Thanks if you can help. RW
>>
>> Dust on the lens or in the air illuminated by the flash.
>>
>
>How can you tell the difference between dust on the lens and dust on the
>sensor?

It's easy to see the lens...

--
Bill Funk
Replace "g" with "a"
funktionality.blogspot.com

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

I am willing to go with the group consensus...but...

If it were me and I got those I would suspect lens flare. The light seems to
be at a sharp angle...any reason to not suspect lens flare?

--
Thanks,
Gene Palmiter
(visit my photo gallery at http://palmiter.dotphoto.com)
freebridge design group
www.route611.com & Route 611 Magazine
"Rebecca Webb" <webbrl@morris.umn.edu> wrote in message
news:webbrl-1209050939170001@educ-dyn6.morris.umn.edu...
> Has anyone seen this before?
>
> I'm trying to figure out why some of my photos of this old house
> undergoing renovation have whitish circles on them and others don't.
>
> Yeah, the house is reportedly haunted. My mind's wide open. But what
> ELSE could cause the spots?
>
> http://cda.morris.umn.edu/~webbrl/SawyerSep2005/
>
> Thanks if you can help. RW
> --

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

On Mon, 12 Sep 2005 22:34:59 GMT, "Gene Palmiter"
<palmiter_gene@verizon.net> wrote:

>I am willing to go with the group consensus...but...
>
>If it were me and I got those I would suspect lens flare. The light seems to
>be at a sharp angle...any reason to not suspect lens flare?

Where would the flare come from?
The shots seem to be inside a home. Unless there's sunlight falling
onthe front of the lens (and it didn't look like it), where's the
flare from?

--
Bill Funk
Replace "g" with "a"
funktionality.blogspot.com

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

> Where would the flare come from?
> The shots seem to be inside a home. Unless there's sunlight falling
> onthe front of the lens (and it didn't look like it), where's the
> flare from?

I only see them on the first photo. Are they on the others? On the first
photo we see a window and we see the bright morning or afternoon sunlight
from it. If the photographer was standing near the wall of the room he was
in he could be standing near a window. Admittedly with his shoulder to it
but the light could hit the lens.

Looking close at a blow-up there is only the single spot of light in the
guys glasses. EXIF says a flash was used.

I just have to wonder why with tens of thousands of shots in my lifetime I
have never seen this effect.

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

On Mon, 12 Sep 2005 22:06:53 -0700, "William Oertell"
<oertell_NOT@pacbell.net> wrote:

>Has the chip been formatted in the camera?
>
*NEVER* format the chip in the computer, always format it in the
camera.
|:-/

--
Bill Funk
Replace "g" with "a"
funktionality.blogspot.com

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

I've seen this before, when I shot with my D340R a long time ago. I cleaned
the lens, and they went away, I can dig up an old pix that has those spots.
"Gene Palmiter" <palmiter_gene@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:2trVe.6952$b37.4249@trnddc04...
>> Where would the flare come from?
>> The shots seem to be inside a home. Unless there's sunlight falling
>> onthe front of the lens (and it didn't look like it), where's the
>> flare from?
>
> I only see them on the first photo. Are they on the others? On the first
> photo we see a window and we see the bright morning or afternoon sunlight
> from it. If the photographer was standing near the wall of the room he was
> in he could be standing near a window. Admittedly with his shoulder to it
> but the light could hit the lens.
>
> Looking close at a blow-up there is only the single spot of light in the
> guys glasses. EXIF says a flash was used.
>
> I just have to wonder why with tens of thousands of shots in my lifetime I
> have never seen this effect.
>

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

On Tue, 20 Sep 2005 13:46:30 -0500, webbrl@morris.umn.edu (Rebecca
Webb) wrote:

>In article <432f68ef_2@mk-nntp-2.news.uk.tiscali.com>, "Stephen Chalmers"
><ignoring@lycos.co.uk> wrote:
>
>> Forget the orbs - check out the cat flap in the door in the top picture.
>> I can see clearly a triangular mummified face peering through.
>
>Lightened it up and posted it here.
>
>http://cda.morris.umn.edu/~webbrl/SawyerSep2005/CatFlap.jpg
>
>I'd never heard of flares or flashes reflecting on dust.
>
>Got something I haven't heard of to explain the cat flap image?
>
>RW

Dirt?

--
Bill Funk
Replace "g" with "a"
funktionality.blogspot.com