Most of what we call "lens flares" actually are reflection artifacts - just they are reflecting off the curved surfaces. The reflections like this one are reflecting off flat surfaces. You see them very commonly in phone cameras which have a flat protective outer cover on the lens, and I think it's reflecting the image projected on the sensor.Very good! The light is inverted and reflecting in somewhere in the lens housing. So it's not a lens flare but more of a reflection artifact of sorts. Very cool.
Fascinating. Thank you VERY much!Most of what we call "lens flares" actually are reflection artifacts - just they are reflecting off the curved surfaces. The reflections like this one are reflecting off flat surfaces. You see them very commonly in phone cameras which have a flat protective outer cover on the lens, and I think it's reflecting the image projected on the sensor.
A large part of the light hitting the sensor is reflected back to the lens/objective in front. About 25% of the light gets back reflected, and the cover glass can cause artefacts. This also is the reason why the reflection is a perfect mirror of the source (lamp).Most of what we call "lens flares" actually are reflection artifacts - just they are reflecting off the curved surfaces. The reflections like this one are reflecting off flat surfaces. You see them very commonly in phone cameras which have a flat protective outer cover on the lens, and I think it's reflecting the image projected on the sensor.
I don't understand why the reflection seems to be focused so well.This also is the reason why the reflection is a perfect mirror of the source (lamp).
I don't understand why the reflection seems to be focused so well.
Internal ghosts can be at various levels of focus depending on which optical elements are in play. The in-focus ghosts will typically be the brightest just because the light is concentrated but it will also depend on the reflectivity of the optics in play. An example could be a reflection off the detector goes back through the lens(es) and off of a front window. Then the light coming back through will focus back on the detector. If the light bounces off an intermediate optic that is powered (curved) then the ghost won’t be in focus when it returns to the detector. Or a ghost caused by a double bounce within a flat unpowered optic (like a window or filter) will be pushed out of focus by the extra light travel path. The stereotypical “lens flare” will show most of these if the source is bright enough (e.g., the Sun) that the ghosts will show up with enough light.I don't understand why the reflection seems to be focused so well.
I think I've got a third one...Yes nice one, you can see the 2nd smaller light reflected in the sky from just under the the bottom curve of his guitar that confirms it.
Some light sources are brighter than others so their ghosts will be brighter than others. What fools the eye is when the direct light source is saturated in the image, so you can’t see how much brighter it is than the others but the ghosts are unsaturated so you can better see the relative brightnesses.I think I've got a third one...
Can somebody with camera savvy speak to why some bright light sources in pics like this produce reflections, while others int he same picture do not? It is an objectin I have had raised in conversations with folks about similar images in the past.
Light coming into the camera from a distant point is in roughly parallel light paths. All these paths are then bend and converged (i.e.focussed) to a point on the sensor plane. The partial reflection of this point goes back through the lens (diverging to roughly parallel), then reflects off the front and through the lens again (converging). So it's not going to affect the focus unless (I think) the light is close to the camera.I don't understand why the reflection seems to be focused so well.