Sun spots on photos?

homer simpson

hi all, this is one of my first posts in the main phootgraphy section i use the assignment section and post sometimes in the random photo thread but nere on here.


I have a few questions to ask and id appreciate all suggestions, my main reason for buying the camera (in nevember, so still new to it) was sport, although i have found myself taking landscape photos pretty much on a weekly basis, i find it very difficult to take photos into strong sunlight , i always end up with what can be called sunspots in the picture, and sometimes i even get a strang ghosting effect from the sun/moon i do use a UV filter but i duno how good it was, is there any way to avoid this apart from changing my timing from morning to evening and vise versa, as most of my photos are spur of the moment photos while out for a run in the car. Now the other thing is i have found i get the same effect while taking pictures of the moon! anyone any ideas??


I have included a few examples of my photos to show you what i mean....

trishw78

do you have a UV filter on your lens if so removing it might solve the problem

Paulw

A good lens hood will stop this. Not always possible with a uw lens though.

When shooting towards strong light, it might not be possible to avoid them though.

magicbastarder

a lens hood won't stop the flare if the sun is in the frame.

Paulw

True, but it would remove the flare from shot #1 above.

The others ... not much you can do.

oshead

You'd usually find that flare is produced in different quantities form one lens to the next. The 50mm 1.4 dosn't seem handle it too well. But that's ok, I like flare sometimes. If i want flare, I pick up that lense. I bought a hood for it and it works for most stuff. On the other hand, the 60mm 2.8 handles it really well IMO. It's swings and round abouts really.

homer simpson

trishw78 wrote: »

do you have a UV filter on your lens if so removing it might solve the problem

I thought the UV filter was there to stop the UV lights damaging the lense so always used it when shotting into light (well it on all the time anyways to protect the lense), i'll deffinently give that a go thanks.

oshead wrote:

You'd usually find that flare is produced in different quantities form one lens to the next. The 50mm 1.4 dosn't seem handle it too well. But that's ok, I like flare sometimes. If i want flare, I pick up that lense. I bought a hood for it and it works for most stuff. On the other hand, the 60mm 2.8 handles it really well IMO. It's swings and round abouts really.

Well im still using the standard lense kit yet, i'm saving up the pennies to buy a decent lense im figuring that there isnt much point getting a lense that i will be wanting to replace in 6months time,

Paulw wrote:

A good lens hood will stop this. Not always possible with a uw lens though.

When shooting towards strong light, it might not be possible to avoid them though.

So a lense hood should stop the flare in most cases, i must put that on my ever growing to buy list


Keep the suggestions comming, and what lense would you reccommend? (might as well sneek this in here too instead of asking i a month or so's time when im buying) as good a lense as possable for as little money as possable :P

melekalikimaka

homer_simpson wrote: »

I thought the UV filter was there to stop the UV lights damaging the lense so always used it when shotting into light (well it on all the time anyways to protect the lense), i'll deffinently give that a go thanks.

its used to reduce haziness or fogginess created by ultraviolet light, not to stop damage. the clearance between the filter and the lens is refracting the light causing the spots...me thinks...

Paulw

homer_simpson wrote: »

I thought the UV filter was there to stop the UV lights damaging the lense so always used it when shotting into light (well it on all the time anyways to protect the lense), i'll deffinently give that a go thanks.

A UV filter should have no impact on your photos. The sensor already has a UV protector, so your camera doesn't really need a UV filter at all. It is useful for protecting the front glass element though.

homer_simpson wrote: »

So a lense hood should stop the flare in most cases, i must put that on my ever growing to buy list

A lens hood protects from stray light spilling across the glass element in the lens. It should only allow you to capture light within the frame. So, it can be useful to block massive glare across the lens, and stop light spots.

Of course, if you shoot with harsh light sources within the frame, then there is very little that can be done to stop light spots.

Paulw

melekalikimaka wrote: »

its used to reduce haziness or fogginess created by ultraviolet light, not to stop damage. the clearance between the filter and the lens is refracting the light causing the spots...me thinks...

But, since most lenses have a number of elements, the lens itself can be causing the spots. It might have nothing to do with filters.

oshead

its used to reduce haziness or fogginess created by ultraviolet light, not to stop damage. the clearance between the filter and the lens is refracting the light causing the spots...me thinks...

Don't you mean reflecting the light?

charybdis

oshead wrote: »

Don't you mean reflecting the light?

I'm pretty sure he meant refracted.

oshead

charybdis wrote: »

I'm pretty sure he meant refracted.

Yeah, well I'm pretty sure reflection causes lense flare.

melekalikimaka

dammit i can't even edit it cos you all quoted it...

oshead

And you a mod an all that. OK, I've undone the quote.

Zillah

homer_simpson wrote: »

So a lense hood should stop the flare in most cases, i must put that on my ever growing to buy list

A hood is absolutely irrelevant unless the light source is out of frame. Once the sun is in the shot the hood does absolutely nothing.

Your problem is almost certainly caused by light bouncing between your UV filter and the front of the lens, taking that off should do the job. UV filters are used for two reasons: 1, to provide a layer of protection to the front of the lens, and 2, to prevent the sky from burning out and not rendering correctly. 2 isn't an issue for most cameras. Eitherway, the light itself is no danger.