Help with lens flare?

Hi all, so i took some pictures at night and for some reason, have all these small areas of light scatter (Seems like lens flare??) I tried taking multiple pictures at different angles, and the spots are always present. This doesn't normally happen and other pictures taken that same evening came out fine. Any idea what causes this and how to avoid in the future?

Xsi w/ sigma 30/1.4 with lens hood on
Aperture: 1.4
Shutter: 1/60
Iso: 800

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Can you post pictures? (if you did they are not showing up on my screen)

are the pictures working now?

Do you have a filter on the lens?

Looks like you have a filter on the lens.

oops, forgot to mention i have a UV filter on it. Will that cause this? If so, is it better to shoot without a UV filter at night time?

One way to find out - try it without and see if that solves the problem.

true... thanks for the help everyone!

s1uma1 wrote in post #8495734
...i have a UV filter on it. Will that cause this?

Yes.

s1uma1 wrote in post #8495734
If so, is it better to shoot without a UV filter at night time?

Yes. Night scenes tend to have a wide range of luminance (brightness), such as a street light that is 10 stops brighter than the subject. That causes flare. Flare is greatly aggravated by filters (even the highest quality $200 UV filters). Therefore it is best to avoid filters when shooting scenes with wide brightness ranges. That includes many night scenes, but also may other types of scenes.