I was out in the cemetery today taking pictures, and in one particular shot, there's an odd white light on one of the tombstones. There was nothing on the tombstone that could have reflected that much light, and out of about 400 shots, this was the only one with it. To me, it almost looks like a light leak, but considering this was the only one that had this, I'm almost certain that isn't the problem. I searched the web a little bit, and there were a few sites that claim that it's "an orb of light," or "a wandering spirit." That I highly doubt. I was wondering if anyone has a more logical explanation. The first picture is the whole image, and the second is a crop of the area in question at full size.
I don't think it's a flash problem, principally because no other part of the photo in that vicinity seems to have been lit by a flash. It looks like some weird temporary hot pixel - you may have a faulty CCD. I would suggest getting your camera checked out.
no, it wouldnt be a hot pixel, because it would be in all the photos, or at least the photos taken after this one. Also, it cant be a hot pixel because, the light stops right at the edge of the tombstone.
I have absolutely no idea what it is. Out of over 5000 pictures I've taken with my 10-d, this is the only one that has had it, and since this one, I've taken a few hundred shots, and there are no problems at all. I'm stumped.
That is weird...But I have one for you...
I was taken a photo of my husbands grandfathers headstone....
I went to take the photo and the Batteries just popped out!
I had a Kodak 215 at the time....But the weird think is the Light on the camera stayed on....I even tryed to turn it off, but it would not work. I got in the car and went home...5 minute drive and the light was still on when I showed my husband.
That freaked me out....went and got a new camera that day...hehe
My guess is that it is a headlight of a vehicle reflecting in the headstone. Is the direction that headstone faces oriented towards a road, parking lot, turn-around, garage, etc.?
Ditto what EddyG says - there was a light source behind you - besides a vehicle, it could have been a street light, a garage light, or some other reflection from a metal object. Looks like it was pretty dark that day - no shadows - so maybe a light sensor tripped on an outdoor light. Anyway, I see it as a reflection.
The road is a pretty good distance from the spot. If you can see the telephone lines, the road follows that. This was taken at about 11:30 am. The only houses in sight are the development you can see in the background. If it were a headlight, or something like that, it's have to be from a vehicle inside the cemetary, and I was the only one there. Not to mention that a car headlight, or any other light of that type, I'd think wouldnt project such a strong, compact beam, especially on a stone, something that isn't exactly all that reflective. I certainly didn't see it in the viewfinder while I was taking the picture, so I think it has to be something with the camera, but I havent had any other problems. The only think I can think of is maybe a glitch in the camera processing from the sensor; But at the same time, why would it be something so uniform, and as some one else pointed out, why would it stop at the end of the tombstone?
I wouldn't fall for any of those bizarre explanations like haunted, ghost, orb of light, etc. You can find any kind of wierd thing you want on the internet. It's probably just an ordinary UFO.
But seriously, I'd guess that there is a very small, very shiny surface at that point on the stone that caught some light from your flash and tossed it back at your camera. Maybe even slightly concave (or should I say convex?) to concentrate a little return beam. Did you notice anything unusual at that spot before or after the shot?
That's what I thought it was at first. I took a couple shots of it, with the same settings, and this was the only one that had it. There's nothing on the tombstone that could have reflected that much light. And trust me, I'm not going for the supernatural explanations. It has to be something with the camera. I'm just not sure what that is. Has anyone else ever had anything similar with their cameras?
With the overall image being on the darker side,I don't think it is possible for any reflection to be so bright that there is no detail in the white part. I would lean towards a freak, one time pixel(s) glitch. It looks like the sensor didn't record any info at all in the center of the spot.
Makes sense to me. There were thunderstorms moving in at the time. Perhaps that had something to do with jolting the flow of information while it was processing.
I have to agree with the reflection crowd, and ask again did your flash fire? Look at the tombstone directly behind (Duvall) and notice how the lettering is illuminated, but partially shadowed, presumably by the stones in front. This is a reflection, and it is so concentrated because the stone surface is polished, in effect it is a mirror.
You were very near the edge of the stone, so if you moved only an inch or two to the left, you would not have seen the reflection. The tone of the spt to me suggests flash.
it has to be a reflection of the stone because, if it was an orb or some kind of circular object the halo would have been round while, as everybody can see, it is cut off when the stone ends.
IMHO it is just a reflection.
I gotta agree with the others... either a flash of some sort fired, or there was a light in the background that showed up. If this was some sort of processing error, the light would extend beyond the stone. It stops right at the edge of the stone.
It had to have been the flash. On the speedlite, when the wide angle refractor is down, it produces two white circles on anything reflective at a distance. I went outside with some new batteries and shot glass, and a chunk of dull marble I found in the basement. I had the camera drive mode set to continuous. The first shot I took must've been the last flash before the battery died. It didn't look like the flash at first, but as it would seem, the angle was just right that the flash reflection was cut in half by the edge of the tombstone, which is why you dont see the rest of it, and why if you look closely, the ring of faded light around the circle doesnt appear to turn with the circle at the left edge, as is the same with the flash. There's always a logical explanation, but it was none the less, pretty interesting. Thanks for everyone's insight and opinions.
