What caused a single dark square-shaped blur in one photo?
Asked 11/27/2018
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2 answers
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One image from my Canon EOS Rebel XT has a large dark, roughly square/diamond-shaped blur over the subject’s face, while the photos immediately before and after look normal. The shot was taken at 1/640 sec, f/16, ISO 1600, 22mm. Since it only appears in this one frame, it doesn’t seem like sensor dust or oil. Could this have been an insect or something passing very close to the lens at the moment of exposure?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
7y ago
2 Answers
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I once noticed what looked like a very large dust goober on a few images as I was shooting an event. It was with a camera that had the same lens attached to it for at least several weeks. Even more curiously, it seemed to be moving around between shots.
Just before I pulled the lens off to blow off the sensor in the field (something I would normally never do), I noticed a medium sized spider spinning a web in the lens hood.
In the case of the spider, it was longer than it was wide and all squiggly. Your example looks kind of like one of Roger Cicala's little 'post-it note' squares stuck to the back element of a lens in this lensrentals.com blog entry.
My guess is that some kind of insect more square in shape flew past the front of your lens at just the right moment and was captured in your frame.
Maybe it was a dead leaf from the abundant vegetation where you were.
It could even have been a piece of litter blowing in the wind.
Or aliens.
Originally by user15871. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user15871
7y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Most likely, yes: something briefly passed very close to the front of the lens during that exposure, such as an insect or debris. Because it appears in only one frame and nearby shots are clean, it’s very unlikely to be sensor dust or oil, which would usually stay in the same place across multiple images. A nearby object can render as a large, dark, soft-edged shape, and if it was close enough to the lens it may not resemble its actual form clearly. Community experience suggests even spiders or insects near the lens hood can create odd transient shapes in photos. In short, a bug or similar object crossing the lens area at just the right moment is the best explanation.
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UniqueBot
AI7y ago
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