Hello All! Why is this happening?

[JDRoth]

Hello all! I just found TPF and this is my first post. Hope this is the first of many.

So I just got my Nikon D90 a couple of days ago. Its my first DSLR. I love it.

But while trying to photograph my Rabbits jumping out of their cage, I get this odd light defect. Technically I know whats causing it, the lights on my nightstand (first picture). What I am more interested in is why it is happening. Pictures two and three are the pictures with the effect, and its right above their heads. These are the RAW files, there has been absolutely no PP done to it.

Thanks very much for the help!

#1

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DSC_0012 by jdroth42, on Flickr[/IMG]


#2

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DSC_0075 by jdroth42, on Flickr[/IMG]


#3

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DSC_0028 by jdroth42, on Flickr[/IMG]

 

[JDRoth]

.

 

[AprilEye]

Some sort of odd halo effect? it almost looks like his ear is transparent. I'm sorry I'm not much help. Try to see if you can re-create it in another shot.

 

[JDRoth]

No one?

 

[reznap]

It's from having a long shutter speed combined with the flash (which freezes the motion because the flash duration is very short).

Here's a similar effect... except I was moving the camera after the flash fired. Used a long exposure and had the flash fire at the beginning.

 

[Jeatley]

The rabbit is moving! What were your shutterspeed and you were useing flash right.

 

[Jeatley]

PS Welcome to the Club!

 

[timbearden]

Yeah I would have to agree with the slow shutter and flash. Additionally you could be getting some flare effect from the lamp.

 

[FotograafAmsterdam]

It's indeed because you've use a slow shutterspeed.
You have to consider that a flash is lit only for appr. 1/10.000 sec So you can use to freeze movement. But do u want also the ambient light to be in the picture, you need a longer (slower) shutter-speed.
Example:
When you're in a totally dark room and you make a picture of your rabbit using your flash as the only light source. No matter what shutterspeed you use (only not shorter than the sync-time) the rabbit will be crisp (no movement-blurriness). Even if your shutterspeeds is a minute long!
But if their is ambient light in the room, how this ambient light effects your picture depends on used aperture and shutterspeed.

Just experiment with different shutter-speeds and see for yourself what happens.

Another wrong idea about flash-light is that it causes red-eyes. It's not because of the flash, but because the light-source is to nearby your lens! The same effect can be seen without a flash. Hold a maglite next to your eyes and shine in some-ones eyes (in a dimly lit room); you see 'red' eyes!

 

[Bram]

Motion blur?

 

[JDRoth]

If exposure time and shutter speed are the same thing (which i am pretty sure they are my shutter speed was 1/25) so I am assuming that that is too slow. I will try again with a faster shutter speed. But to me, in all of my amateurity (made it up), it doesn't look like a motion blur it looks like a light artifact. And I just can't figure out why it would be happening since the lamps are not in direct view of the lens.

The above ideas are very helpful and I will try them tonight with and without the lamp. But just to humor me, could that be an artifact from the lamps and if so how since they aren't in the lenses view? Would using the hood get rid of that effect possibly?

 

[Destin]

On photo #3 it is motion blur for sure. You can see it in front of his ear. It is not a light artifact.

Photo #2 is a little harder harder to see it. It is also motion blur though, not a light artifact. The reason it looks like an artifact is that you are seeing the light on the wall behind the rabbit, but it appears to be in front of (on) him rather than the wall behind him due to the fact that he moved out of that spot before the shutter closed.

 

[JDRoth]

Oh ok. Thanks very much!

 

[OrionsByte]

Seems like you got it, but I just feel like pretending to be smart today.

You can think of it this way - it's basically underexposed motion blur. The flash fired and lit your subject for one teeny moment in time but your shutter was still open for a fraction of a second longer, during which time the bunny moved a bit.

So the effect is similar to taking two images and superimposing them - one picture with an underexposed bunny with motion blur, and one picture with a flash-lit bunny with no motion blur.