Eyes in a Cloud [Lens Flare + Panorama Stitching]

Mick West

Administrator
Staff member
20170611-172032-utc9q.jpg

This odd "face" in the cloud has a reasonably simple explanation, but I though I'd document it here in case it comes up again.

The image is actually part of a 360° panorama I took
20170611-172322-ui9ok.jpg

Panoramas are generated by stitching together lots of strips of different images. When things don't move they generally work quite well, but when they do move it causes problems.

The Sun, of course, is not moving much in the little time it took me to turn around 360°. However what did change was the angle between me and the sun, and this meant that the lens flare moved. Since everything else stayed the same the software registered this as a new feature, and so we got two. It's possible that we might get even more it the turn rate happens to match

This type of lens flare is common on the iPhone, and contains a little image of the sun, so we get two little images of the sun, hence the two "eyes"
 
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