Reflections

[allklier]

I took this moonlight shot early in the morning, but everyone of the shots in

this series has this green reflection of the moon to the right. What causes

this reflection, and how can I avoid it?

 

This was shot with a Canon XTi with 50mm/f1.4 lens at ISO 400, 1/5s, f/2.0. I

had left the UV Haze filter on.

 

http://www.photo.net/photo/5803960

[sandra_schaffer]

That is the moon reflecting in one of the internal elements of the lens (flare).

You need to shade the lens and that MAY eliminate it, but sometimes it does not.

[m_barbu1]

Flare from your filter. Remove your filter. You may also see flare once you remove the filter.

[andrew robertson]

"I had left the UV Haze filter on."

 

That's the problem.

[Michael R Freeman]

Actually to be more specific, it's a ghost. The bright image of the moon reflects off of the sensor surface, goes back out through the lens, reflects off of the flat back surface of the filter, and then goes back through the lens again to be recorded as a ghost image. Remove the filter, and this ghost image (reflection) will usually pass harmlessly back out through the front of the lens.

 

In general, filters on night shots that contain a bright point light source are a no-no, for this very reason. Even high quality multi-coated filters can cause a ghost in this type of situation.

[allklier]

Thanks for the responses. I haven't done many night shots so far, so I wasn't aware of this effect. I will make sure to take it off on future occasions.

[davyjo]

I did some testing with my Sigma 70-200mmf/2.8 and found that I could produce the ghost whenever the sun/moon was off center but not near the edge. If you have to shoot with the filter on (or don't want to take the time to remove it) try centering the moon and then crop it off-center later.

[NK Guy]

Everybody's wrong. It's a spiritual orb.

[m_barbu1]

But it's green! Wouldn't that make it an orb from Mars?

[ryan_minor]

Actually, I think this is a beautiful photo. I was having this same problem taking shots of the Moon and Venus, so now I remove any filters and it works fine.