Mystery Photo

jeffashman · Dec 20, 2021

This isn't the best of images. It was taken on a phone cam, and then uploaded to Google Photos, where it lost some IQ, and then reworked, where it lost some more IQ.
Samsung Galaxy S7 f/1.7 1/370 ISO 50 4.2mm

So, what are your best guesses as to what this is?

aug21201701 by Jeff Ashman, on Flickr

Scott Whaley · Dec 20, 2021

Looks like an Atomic bomb destination.

terri · Dec 20, 2021

I took similar photos during an eclipse.

Fun stuff!

jeffashman · Dec 20, 2021

terri said:
I took similar photos during an eclipse. Fun stuff!

It’s amazing, isn’t it? Every little space between the leaves in the trees becomes an aperture and covers the ground with a multitude of eclipses. For me, that was more fascinating than the actual eclipse.

terri · Dec 20, 2021

It was bizarre to look at, I agree!

I know I have more than this, but this is all I can find atm:

Bex wasn't particularly impressed.

But there is no mistaking the phenomenon we both observed and photographed, Jeff! Mine was taken with my old Samsung Galaxy Note 4, I couldn't tell you anything more.

K9Kirk · Dec 20, 2021

Reminds me of some Asian art I've seen. Looks like an aerial view of a mountain range. You have to use a little imagination to see it that way, perhaps.

PJM · Dec 21, 2021

What an amazing science project. I would never have guessed but once you explain it it makes perfect sense. Nice job recognizing and capturing the phenomenon.

jeffashman · Dec 21, 2021

terri said:
It was bizarre to look at, I agree!

I know I have more than this, but this is al

PJM said:
What an amazing science project. I would never have guessed but once you explain it it makes perfect sense. Nice job recognizing and capturing the phenomenon.

Thanks! To be honest, it took my brain a few seconds to process what I was seeing, but once it connected, it was like, "Wow! This is so cool!"

mathbias · Dec 21, 2021

I had no clue, then once the answer was given, I looked again. The knowledge of what it is totally changes what I see. It is now so visually obvious what it is, that it is hard to remember what I thought I was seeing when it wasn't obvious. I understand that knowledge really does influence your visual processing that much. But that is still just factual information, rather than really internalized information. So it still feels surprising when knowledge changes what you see by that much.