Explained: Colorado Man Photographs Flying Jellyfish-Like ‘Critters’ [Water on Lens, Caustic Bokeh]

Whitebeard

Senior Member
From Cryptozooloogy News

http://cryptozoologynews.com/colorado-man-photographs-flying-jellyfish-like-critters/

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A man released a series of pictures of unidentified flying "creatures" that have left paranormal investigators looking for clues to decipher their true nature.

Larry Smith, owner of the photographs, says these "entities" have been showing up in his backyard frequently.

The series of images, reportedly taken by a D8 Wild Innovations trail camera, depict green and orange light blobs that appear to contain a cellular structure within their "translucent wings".

"I believe there is male and female and a breeding population as have seen different sizes and ages," Smith told Leon Drew, a researcher who claims to have been investigating the paranormal for six years.

The "critters", Smith said last week, are bigger than any bird he has ever seen and "bigger than the 11′ wide fire pit" featured on the picture.
Now I''m not sure about the credibility of the source for a start, Larry Smith has also claimed to have seen Mongolian Death Worms, encountered saquatch and seen 'many' UFO's. He is also claiming the 'creatures' are some kind of undine, or water spirit.

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"An unnamed source stated 'these come from a lake nearby. They are about 10,000 years old. They are posing for the critter camera to send a message. Clean up the water, stop polluting!'" Drew said.

The researcher wonders whether the pictures are showing "Elementals, water droplets on a camera lens, or an inter-dimensional entity".
Now I'm no expert, but first glance at the photograph doesn't seam to show creatures as big as an 11 foot fire pit, the green one appears to be in front of the garden chair, and there are sticks from the bonfire behind the orange one. (also comparing the fire to the size of the chair shows Mr Smith is also exaggerating the size of his fire)

I think what ever is causing the effect is on glass, there are streaks and smears all over the picture, including one notable one running diagonally across the centre of the shot and several of what appears to be finger prints. But as these also appear in front of the alleged critters is suggests to me that the photograph was taken through glass, the mucky streaks on the inside and the 'critters' on the outside.

As to what they objects actually are, I guess at water droplets but dont know how that would explain the colouring. Lens flare may be, or even water droplets AND lens flare. may be some one here with more technical savvy than me could explain this better?

And for reference here's the camera that it is claimed was used http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/product/62430

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It's just water on the lens (or maybe on a window). More serious paranormal researcher have come across this before:
http://www.assap.ac.uk/newsite/htmlfiles/Weird shapes.html
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It is possible to get weird photos with strange glowing shapes, like the one shown here, top left. It shows a bright light source (a small torch - bright circle near centre) in front of a copy of ASSAP News. But there is a strange bright glowing shape all around the circular torch light in the middle. It is not flare and it certainly isn't anorb.

In fact, it is caused by water droplets on the lens of the camera. Though this effect is rare, it can happen if you are taking photos at night outside when it is raining (though this is not recommended as most cameras are not waterproof and rain can damage them).

The effect requires a bright light source, like flare. Also like flare, the light source does not need to be in the photo. The light source does not have to be a light, it could just be something shiny, reflecting a camera flash.
 
I gave it a quick go, flicking some water at my camera:

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Some interesting shapes, they mostly form very briefly, while the lens is being sprayed
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The one to the upper right of the chair here has the distinctive "twist".
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It forms very rapidly, this is 25% speed:
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And while the dark dots are not as pronounced, they are certainly there.
 
To more effectively reproduce the effect, you would need a waterproof camera, with a wide aperture, and then actually spray it with water.

Wide aperture is essential. Set to small aperture, you get very little effect.
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I think it's a form of "bokeh".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bokeh

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Bokeh is often most visible around small background highlights, such as specular reflections and light sources, which is why it is often associated with such areas.[7] However, bokeh is not limited to highlights; blur occurs in all out-of-focus regions of the image.
 
I think it's a form of "bokeh".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bokeh

External Quote:
Bokeh is often most visible around small background highlights, such as specular reflections and light sources, which is why it is often associated with such areas.[7] However, bokeh is not limited to highlights; blur occurs in all out-of-focus regions of the image.

It's like bokeh that has been distorted by bending through irregular water shapes on the surface of the lens. Looking at the animation, you can clearly see the round shapes of wide-aperture bokeh, but it gets twisted around as the drop moves downwards.
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The twisted shapes are actually Caustics:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caustic_(optics)
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In optics, a caustic or caustic network[1] is the envelope of light raysreflected or refracted by a curved surface or object, or the projection of that envelope of rays on another surface.[2] The caustic is a curve or surface to which each of the light rays is tangent, defining a boundary of an envelope of rays as a curve of concentrated light. [2] Therefore in the image to the right, the caustics can be the patches of light or their bright edges. These shapes often have cusp singularities.
So what we are seeing here could well be labeled "Caustic Bokeh".
 
Here's a video I made using a F1.4 lens. It's a bit blurry, but you get the general idea.


Just before the end, as my leg partially obscures the light, you can see there are multiple overlapping caustics from the different drops.
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I've come across similar effects with my own camera when the lens got wet.

I'm come across claims like this before as being some sort of cryptid, alien life form, interdimensional being, etc.

It boggles the mind how people come to such fantastic conclusions when some basic knowledge or research shows how prosaic the explanation really is.
 
I actually saw those flying jellyfishes this morning when I woke up and looked into my lamp. These were bright red, but seemed rather harmless.

Seriously, I did, the same phenomenon of light through water apparently works on the eyes if they are wet. I wish I could have taken a screenshot.
 
I believe John Lamb Lash would probably call these "Archons." I have no desire nor energy to search for his description but I distinctly remember the phrase "space fish."
 


Just another example. I took this a couple of years ago. I think it got lost in the great Giphy purge of 2020
 
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