Is it an Orb????????

damaralenoire · Joined: 19 Oct 2008 Posts: 334 Location: South Wales UK

Hi, any thoughts on a pic please.

I was browsing through some old pics the other decided what to add to my new computer and noticed an orb like feature next to my cat on a particular picture

Here is the direct link

http://i460.photobucket.com/albums/qq326/damaralenoire/orb2.jpg

Solstice Moon · Joined: 31 Aug 2008 Posts: 272 Location: Horsham, W Sussex

You can mail it to me if you like.

I find the easiest way is to upload it to photobucket, and host it from there to be honest

Solstice Moon · Joined: 31 Aug 2008 Posts: 272 Location: Horsham, W Sussex

Ok all, here's the pic.....

I'm not expert, or fan, of orbs, so I'll leave that side to those who know a bit more about them. However, is that a mark on the carpet in the bottom left hand corner, or a light anomaly?

damaralenoire · Joined: 19 Oct 2008 Posts: 334 Location: South Wales UK

Well i can say as it is my living room, that its not a mark on the carpet and to be honest i hadn't really noticed that on the pic before. lol but then again i only noticed that orb like thing today. lol

Thanks for putting the picture up for me by the way :)

Yeah, so ANY opinions would be greatly apprciated

Solstice Moon · Joined: 31 Aug 2008 Posts: 272 Location: Horsham, W Sussex

Ok, had another look, and done a bit of research (last day of my holiday, and I spend it online, I really must get a life!) and although i hate to be a party pooper, I do think it's just dust Sad

I'm presuming that you're using a digital camera there, and probably with a flash. What often happens is the light will reflect back off a dust particle thats very close to the lens. Being so close the particle's also out of focus.

Now, with digital cameras, they don't tend to take the entire picture, just parts of it and "make up" the rest. ie they'll sense a couple of pixels, and use these to guesstimate the one inbetween. If one of these sensors gets a bright light, then the camera will think that the blank pixels around it will also have some light.

I'll try to explain...

here we have a sensor layout with a camera. The numbers represent the intensity of light, and the dots are blank pixels.

..0...0...0...0...0...0..

the camera would interpret this as

0000000000000000000000000

or a black picture

now, lets imagine that one sensor picks up a reflected bit of dust, ie something very bright

..0...0...0...7...0...0..

the camera would then guess the blank pixels, to give us

0000000000013575310000000

whereas it really should be

0000000000000070000000000

our pin prick of light has suddenly spread from a small dot of light, to a larger dimmer disc.

The higher the pixel count of the camera, the less chances of a dust orb, but even the best ones are about the same as a 35mm, so orbs are still possible.

Don't lose heart though, I've been snapping away for years, and I've yet to capture anything that stands up to a second look. In fact I've seen more with the naked eye than I have with my trusty ol' camera.

I now await some of our more experienced readers of orbs to put me in my place, and tell me I'm wrong Wink

flossy · Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 10:35 am Post subject:

well that wont be me lol
it certainlt sounds like your know what your talking about Wink

YB · Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 3:20 pm Post subject:

I'm going with "environmental"

mrx3010 · Joined: 18 Nov 2006 Posts: 579

Im voting, Lens flare based on past experiments and examples.

bitterbuck1 · Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 1:20 am Post subject:

flossy · Posted: Fri Oct 24, 2008 1:06 am Post subject: