How can I reproduce these circles of light effect ?

slowpork · Jul 19, 2005

Hello.
Following pictures have plenty of white, circle spots. Does anyone know what causes these, and how can I reproduce this effect in term of higher quantity and brightness ?

http://4ravers.com/partypics/displayimage.php?album=50&pos=98
http://4ravers.com/partypics/displayimage.php?album=52&pos=44
http://4ravers.com/partypics/displayimage.php?album=52&pos=55
http://4ravers.com/partypics/displayimage.php?album=52&pos=63
http://4ravers.com/partypics/displayimage.php?album=50&pos=12
http://4ravers.com/partypics/displayimage.php?album=50&pos=58
http://4ravers.com/partypics/displayimage.php?album=50&pos=81

Thank you in advance. :hail:
-Slowpork

Hertz van Rental · Jul 19, 2005

At first I thought it was lens flare - caused by bright lights in shot but there aren't any that I can see, they haven't taken the shape of the diaphragm and they don't follow the regular pattern (dictated by the lens elements).
My best guess - and last time I saw something similar my guess was right - is that it is crap on the lens. Specks of dust or water causing the flash to flare off them and giving the random pattern of circles.
The circles vary in number, position and size so I feel pretty confident that I am right.
It's not something you want to reproduce - and it is, strangely, something that is difficult to get to work on purpose.
You'd do better to try reproducing it in Photoshop.

Mitica100 · Jul 19, 2005

I believe that'd be lens flare. Whenever you point the lens towards a light source and shoot you will get a flare, usually round.

Hertz van Rental · Jul 19, 2005

Mitica100 said:
I believe that'd be lens flare. Whenever you point the lens towards a light source and shoot you will get a flare, usually round.

Lens flare from that cause always takes the shape of the diaphragm, which is polygonal.

slowpork · Jul 19, 2005

More examples from several sources. In common, these white particles are rounded, and have same textures inside like a maze. Do len flares contain textures? Some pictures seems to be taken in a clean room, which may not contain dust or mist.

http://www.shockfm.com/gal/image/pic3_1.gif
http://www.shockfm.com/gal/image/pic3.jpg
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/kongsakt/album?.dir=/9b1f&.src=ph
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/kongsakt/album?.dir=/5c9b&.src=ph

Mitica100 · Jul 19, 2005

Hertz van Rental said:
Lens flare from that cause always takes the shape of the diaphragm, which is polygonal.

There are some instances when the diaphragm has more than the usual number (5-7) of blades therefore creating almost a circle.

Mitica100 · Jul 19, 2005

slowpork said:
More examples from several sources. In common, these white particles are rounded, and have same textures inside like a maze. Do len flares contain textures? Some pictures seems to be taken in a clean room, which may not contain dust or mist.

http://www.shockfm.com/gal/image/pic3_1.gif
http://www.shockfm.com/gal/image/pic3.jpg
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/kongsakt/album?.dir=/9b1f&.src=ph
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/kongsakt/album?.dir=/5c9b&.src=ph

Oh, wait... These are not lens flare, I should have looked more at the first set. Mea Culpa! I'll take another look to see if I can make out what might cause them...

Mitica100 · Jul 19, 2005

slowpork said:
More examples from several sources. In common, these white particles are rounded, and have same textures inside like a maze. Do len flares contain textures? Some pictures seems to be taken in a clean room, which may not contain dust or mist.

http://www.shockfm.com/gal/image/pic3_1.gif

That's strange... The positioning of the circles of light I mean.

slowpork said:
http://www.shockfm.com/gal/image/pic3.jpg

This is even stranger, with so many circles, almost feels like it was raining or snowing.. Wow!

slowpork said:
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/kongsakt/album?.dir=/9b1f&.src=ph
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/kongsakt/album?.dir=/5c9b&.src=ph

Let me ask what camera, what film did you use? Or was it a digital cam? If film, was it scanned or processed at a local lab?

Mitica100 · Jul 19, 2005

OK, I think I know the answer. I see that pictures shown were taken using the flash; when the flash is activated, light strikes airborne dust particles that are close to the lens. Thus, the light is reflected onto your CCD and it forms the dreaded white circles. The dust particles are almost invisible to the eye but then consider the fact that they are very near the camera lens and they appear round, with the help of the cam's flash.

Because digital cameras tend to have a lens with a relatively short focal length, with the flash positioned close to lens and use a smaller aperture when in flash mode, it is relatively easy for this type of problem to occur.

Digital cameras have lenses with pretty short focal length and most likely a round aperture, unlike the more modern SLRs where the aperture is pentagonal or heptagonal (5 or 7 blades). On top of that, the flash unit sits pretty close to the lens and when triggered, it will make the dust particles appear bright, bigger white circles. When using such camera under these circumstances it will be pretty easy to create white circles on your shots.

Does this make any sense?

Meysha · Jul 19, 2005

It's dust on your sensor.

thebeginning · Jul 19, 2005

i'm with hertz. picture with drops of water on your lens will usually get a similar effect. if it were lens flare you would be able to see the aperture (as hertz said - polygonal) and there would be a series of them in a row. these are circles and ovals in random spots, so i would have to say it is dust and water on the lens.

fadingaway1986 · Jul 19, 2005

I had this on one of my photos a while back. I think it was dust on the lens.

Artemis · Jul 19, 2005

Im with Hertz, dust on the lens...and that isnt something you wanna do to your lens...unless you want this effect perminantly...

thebeginning · Jul 19, 2005

if you HAVE to do it, i suggest getting a UV, skylight, or some other cheap filter and then putting water on that, not on your front lens element. I dont think it's ever save to actually put something on the front of your lens.

Mitica100 · Jul 19, 2005

OK, I'm willing to bet on this one...

It can't be dust on the sensor because the spots don't appear in the same place on different pics.

By the same token, dust or water drops on the lens would not have this effect, it could soften the picture but not make the circles we all saw.

As an experiment, slowpork can you take a picture (in the same kind of conditions as the ones taken before) with the flash and one without? That will be foretelling. Post it and we'll comment more on it.

As I said before, I was wrong at first when I said it was flare, looking at the multitude of spots in some pictures that cannot be. However, I'd like to know what camera was used to take the pics. In regards to the circular shape of the spots, it's very possible that the camera has a round diaphragm, thus creating that type of shape out of the dust particles near the lens when flash is being used.

Anyone betting on this? :wink: