EOS 10D - Where did the reflection come from?

[dfuccillo]

Please look at the attached photo. Where did the reflection in the sky come from?? I used a circular polarizer. Is this from the mirror in the camera? Not very happy with this. :cry:
Any solutions would be greatly appreciated!

[OceanRider]

looks like lense flare to me! sun high and to left?

[jeffherald]

No it isn't from the mirror because that would be up and out of the way when the shutter is opened to take the picture. It is lens flare from the sun. It could also be a reflection of the sunlight from the first element of glass onto the back side of the polarizer. I have also seen this from any external filter. The only thing you can do while composing the shot is turn a little more away from the sun, or whatever light source is causing the reflection. A lens hood would help or you could use about anything to put the front of the lens in shade, like a book or even your hand (as long as it doesn't show in the viewfinder). The problem is you may not be able to see the reflection yourself for a variety of reasons. About all you can do now is remove it in post-processing.

Nothing wrong with your equipment though. It happens to all of us from time to time.

[Jackal]

Lens flare I'd say.

Don't forgot you can fix that in Photoshop in about 5 seconds. =)

[jbradc]

Did you use a lens hood? Because it does look like lens flare, nothing you can't fix in Photoshop :D

[CyberDyneSystems]

Lens flare,. when using a polarizer we tend to not use the hod so we can tweek the polarizer,..

[kawter2]

being that you were in the snow, I would bet you had a spec of snow/water on your lens. That will TOTALLY cause a lens flare

[sagebrush]

I get very similar things when I change lens. So I use one of these Rocket Air pumps to put a few pumps of air to clean the the sensor and not spots.

Sagebrush

[Adam Hicks]

sagebrush - dust doesn't have angles from aperture blades.

It's lens flare or reflection off the filter(s). Maybe the polarizer was over a UV which could have caused a bounce as well.

TOTALLY.

[dfuccillo]

Thanks!
Could you reply back with a step by step process to fix this in Elements 3.0. I have tried and haven't been successful in matching the sky.

[dfuccillo]

Thanks to all who responded!

[OviV]

Not sure if elements has a clone tool (looks like a stamp). If it does, select it, size the brush to the aproximate size of the reflection, hold down the ALT key and click in an area of the sky that matches the area you want to clone out (just to the right seems to be a good spot), release ALT key and click on the reflection. PS will take the image area from the area that you sampled using the ALT key and replace the area you are trying to fix.

Ovi

[griff2]

http://www.griff2.co.uk/pictures/morrisonhouse.jpg
Don't know if elements has the patch tool, but if it does, then:
1. using the patch tool draw round a large enclosed area of clear blue sky
2. right click and set patch as destination
3. move patch over flare

That's it.

[pradeep1]

When shooting with an obvious sun close to the side of the frame and you don't have a lens hood, consider using a hand or a cap to put a shadow on the full face of the lens. This will cut any lens flare.

[Andy_T]

What pradeep said.

You should be able to see the flare in the viewfinder beforehand.

Best regards,
Andy

[CanonUser]

The CCD/CMOS sensor has a mirror like top layer that reflects light back throught he lens. The problem is more pronounced in brightly lit scene such as the beach, snow, sunset, etc. The flat surface of a filter counces that reflected light right back to the sensor, creating flares or ghost images.

[Volatile]

I would TOTALLY use the patch tool to fix this. I like to patch the source vice destination, but that's just my personal preference.