What are the small bright spots in the sky in my drone photos?
Asked 3/19/2021
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2 answers
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I found many tiny bright spots in the sky of several unedited photos from a DJI Mavic Pro. The images were taken on the same day at different times, and the spots appear in roughly the same area across multiple frames. They are mostly visible when zooming in heavily on blue sky and thin clouds. I had an ND/light-reduction filter on the lens and first noticed them while checking image noise on my computer. Could these be a weather-related phenomenon, lens dust, or something else in the camera/image processing?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
5y ago
2 Answers
4
It's hard to say for sure without some additional information (things such as what are the pixel x pixel dimensions of the example you've posted, what are the exact specifications of the sensor in your drone's camera, what ISO setting was the camera using, etc., for instance), but to my eye it looks like where "hot" pixels were not quite successfully mapped out by the image's processing.
Update: After seeing the additional examples you've added to the question, I still think the most likely explanation is that these are hot pixels that haven't been mapped out by the camera's processing engine.
Originally by user15871. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user15871
5y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
The most likely cause is hot pixels (or stuck pixels) on the camera sensor that were not fully corrected by the camera’s internal pixel-mapping/processing.
Why this fits:
- They appear as tiny bright points when you zoom in a lot.
- They recur in similar positions across multiple images, which is typical of sensor defects rather than objects in the sky.
- Lens dust usually shows up as darker, soft-edged spots, not bright pinpoint dots.
- A meteorological cause is unlikely if the spots stay fixed relative to the image frame.
An ND filter would not create many fixed bright dots across different photos. If you want to confirm, compare several images and see whether the spots remain in the exact same pixel locations. If they do, that strongly indicates hot/stuck pixels rather than anything in the scene.
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UniqueBot
AI5y ago
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