What's happened here?

[ChrisG]

This one image from several hundred taken during a recent visit to Sicily has a rather odd shadow effect in the sky immediately above the ruin. There was clear blue sky. Can anyone explain what's happened here please? My apologies if there is an obvious answer, but I haven't seen this effect before. It was taken using my OMD EM1 Mk II on centre weighted average auto exposure 1/160 f5.6 ISO200 using Olympus 14-150 f4 II lens, with lenshood attached.

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[ChrisG]

I should add this is the JPEG image - the RAW image shows the same effect.

 

[TonyVentourisPhotography]

Aside from saying the ruins were haunted....did this happen on any other shots or is it a one off completely?

 

[fader]

I'm going with haunted. :-o

On a more serious note - do you have any filters installed on the lens that could be reflecting an image back into the lens? It almost looks like a double exposure. Seriously weird...

 

[ChrisG]

Aside from saying the ruins were haunted....did this happen on any other shots or is it a one off completely?

This is a totally one-off affected image. All others taken with this or other lenses are fine.

 

[ChrisG]

I'm going with haunted. :-o

On a more serious note - do you have any filters installed on the lens that could be reflecting an image back into the lens? It almost looks like a double exposure. Seriously weird...

There is a Hoya UV(0) filter attached to the lens. Other images taken with this lens and filter attached didn't exhibit this effect.

 

[BosseBe]

Could it be a mirage?

 

[TheMenWhoDrawSheeps]

filter. had the same effect with IR filter in very dark enviroment. the light was hitting from the side, so the reflection is flipped horizontaly 180° and it´s slightly enlarged than the original landscape.

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[ChrisG]

filter. had the same effect with IR filter in very dark enviroment. the light was hitting from the side, so the reflection is flipped horizontaly 180° and it´s slightly enlarged than the original landscape.

View attachment 575315

Thanks! I wouldn't have considered the filter. I guess the light was critically just at the precise angle - seems like a bit of a fluke as I had the Olympus lens filter fitted as well.

 

[ChrisG]

Correction to my last post: "lens filter" should have read as "lens hood".

 

[dwig]

Thanks! I wouldn't have considered the filter. I guess the light was critically just at the precise angle - seems like a bit of a fluke as I had the Olympus lens filter fitted as well.

Lens hoods block light from areas not in the picture. They do absolutely nothing to prevent flare causes by bright areas in the image.

In this case, I suspect that the bright sky in the picture is what is reflecting between the front of the lens and the rear of the filter.

 

[TheMenWhoDrawSheeps]

Thanks! I wouldn't have considered the filter. I guess the light was critically just at the precise angle - seems like a bit of a fluke as I had the Olympus lens filter fitted as well.

lenshood doesn´t do any good in this situation - i was in cemplete darkness with light comming only through that smal entrance - yet got the same issue.
my bet it´s the light reflected from the lens front element on the filters back side. all matter of angle probably.

 

[fader]

I'd bet a bottle of Cahors that the filter is the culprit. Some landscape photographers paint over the white letters and numbers on the end of their lens barrels with black paint to keep reflections out of the final image.

 

[exakta]

I've had filter flare issues with my E-M10 but never had any when shooting film. Are modern filters just crap or is there something about digital capture that makes flare more common?

 

[dirtdevil]

Don't want to make you feel like you are an amateur, but is the filter the same diameter as the front of the lens, or is the filter bigger and you used a step-down ring to use it? I got something similar once and I was using a 52mm nd filter on a 46mm diameter lens.

 

[RAH]

You should be able to SEE this effect in the viewfinder, right? It looks so cool it would be nice if you could do it deliberately.

Just to be picky here, I think you would use a step-UP ring to mount a larger filter to a smaller diameter lens, dirtdevil.

 

[NoSeconds]

filter. had the same effect with IR filter in very dark enviroment. the light was hitting from the side, so the reflection is flipped horizontaly 180° and it´s slightly enlarged than the original landscape.

View attachment 575315

Great shot mate!

I've had this happen to the occasional image before but never in a good way that produced a keeper...

 

[barry]

I've had filter flare issues with my E-M10 but never had any when shooting film. Are modern filters just crap or is there something about digital capture that makes flare more common?

Some brands are worse than others; one of mine had horrible flare/reflections at night; when I found an extensive review of filters, that brand was one of the worst overall:
UV filters test - Introduction - LensTip.com

 

[ChrisG]

Don't want to make you feel like you are an amateur, but is the filter the same diameter as the front of the lens, or is the filter bigger and you used a step-down ring to use it? I got something similar once and I was using a 52mm nd filter on a 46mm diameter lens.

The filter was the same size as the front of the lens diameter.