Strange Moon

Joan

Joan

Dagobah Resident
FOTCM Member
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I took the above images as the date shows in 2005 at around 0610 in the morning, I was getting ready for work and noticed that the Moon looked strange and decided to take a picture ( I had recently purchased a cheap Kodak camera to play around with). I noticed that the Moon had a strange orange red glow to it, which is reflected on the lake, I know it was the moon I took the image of and not the sun. I was about to put the camera down when I felt prompted to take another image.

When I loaded the images onto the computer I was really surprised to discover what the second image revealed. At the time I was living in the West Kootnays in a small rural area in southern B.C.(Canada)

I have shown the images to a few friends to see if they can come up with some explanation of what I consider to be a strange anomaly, but no explanations were forthcoming. Maybe some forum members have some explanations, I have always been curious about them.
 
Judging from the blurring of the foreground and background, it appears that your camera was moving when you took the second picture, thus the 'morphed' moon.
 
No as far as I am aware, anart I wasn't moving the camera I went outside and took the image and and held the camera steady. If you enlarge the second image to 400% it shows what looks like a second image superimposed against the moon with a what I can only describe as a tube leading from it. I know that it probably presents as a vulgar image but I have not changed the image in any way. I am not into vulgarity or making sensational images. I posted them because I am genuinely interested in finding out what I consider an anomaly. But your observation could be correct.

The images in my computer of the foreground do not appear blurred it is only the backdrop of the mountains that appear blurred for some reason, maybe light reflection, the camera as I explained was only a cheap Kodak with 3.2 Mpixels which I believe does not give very good resolution.
 
Cameras lengthen the time period of exposure when the scene is dark. If not, the picture would show nothing but black. When taking pictures of a dark scene, the shutter of the camera can be open up to several seconds, depending on the ISO setting and the Aperture setting. Even if one tries to hold a camera steady, there will undoubtedly be some movements. That's why pictures of night scenes are almost always taken with a camera tripod.

The optical artefact in the first image can occur if the lens is not clean. The light can be scattered at the 'dirt' on the lens (mostly oil films by fingerprints).

The second image is undoubtedly blurred by moving your camera. The streak not only is visible at the moon, it can also be seen at the reflection on the river. Since the streak points upwards left, the camera was moved downwards right. Maybe because you thought the camera is done with the exposure and put it down?

And most importantly, did you see the artefacts with your own eyes?
 
Joan said:
I took the above images as the date shows in 2005 at around 0610 in the morning, I was getting ready for work and noticed that the Moon looked strange and decided to take a picture ( I had recently purchased a cheap Kodak camera to play around with). I noticed that the Moon had a strange orange red glow to it, which is reflected on the lake, I know it was the moon I took the image of and not the sun. I was about to put the camera down when I felt prompted to take another image.

When I loaded the images onto the computer I was really surprised to discover what the second image revealed. At the time I was living in the West Kootnays in a small rural area in southern B.C.(Canada)

I have shown the images to a few friends to see if they can come up with some explanation of what I consider to be a strange anomaly, but no explanations were forthcoming. Maybe some forum members have some explanations, I have always been curious about them.
Click to expand...



Hello Joan..

Most cameras recording a small file on each image taken in any situation called metadata or EXIF, it’ll give you many useful information about the camera position, lights, exposure, aperture, speed, date, time and so on.

I would rather suggest that you study that information about these particular images and see the differences of each image taken by the camera.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exchangeable_image_file_format.

On the other hand (sorry about my ignorance) I am still not sure to understand the question asked.

Is the colour of the moon..? If it is yes then here is the image taken by me when we’ve had the red moon experience this year in Norway which I was sure that it had something to do with the recent volcanic activities in Chikurachki (Russian island).

3690982079_289af48e8b_b.jpg


And this is the metadata generated by the camera.

Camera: Olympus SP570UZ
Exposure: 0.033 sec (1/30)
Aperture: f/4.5
Focal Length: 92 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire

File Size: 2.0 MB
File Type: JPEG
MIME Type: image/jpeg
Image Width: 2662
Image Height: 1997
Encoding Process: Baseline DCT, Huffman coding
Bits Per Sample: 8
Color Components: 3
X-Resolution: 72 dpi
Y-Resolution: 72 dpi
Image Description: OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Orientation: Horizontal (normal)
Software: Adobe Photoshop CS2 Windows
Date and Time (Modified): 2009:07:04 12:41:41
Artist: AKZ
YCbCr Positioning: Co-sited
Exposure Program: Program AE
Date and Time (Original): 2009:07:02 22:57:34+02:00
Date and Time (Digitized): 2009:07:02 22:57:34
Compressed Bits Per Pixel: 4
Max Aperture Value: 2.8
Metering Mode: Spot
Light Source: Unknown
Color Space: sRGB
Custom Rendered: Normal
Exposure Mode: Auto
White Balance: Auto
Digital Zoom Ratio: 1.5
Scene Capture Type: Standard
Gain Control: Low gain up
Contrast: Normal
Saturation: High
Sharpness: Normal
Compression: JPEG (old-style)
Caption- Abstract: OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
By-line: AKZ
By-line Title: A.Ph
Object Name: Moon glow
Global Angle: 30
Global Altitude: 30
Copyright Flag: False
Photoshop Quality: 12
Photoshop Format: Optimised
Progressive Scans: 3 Scans
XMPToolkit: 3.1.1-111
Orientation: Horizontal (normal)
Creator Tool: Adobe Photoshop CS2 Windows
Metadata Date: 2009:07:04 12:41:41+02:00
Format: image/jpeg
Description: OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Title: Moon glow
Creator: AKZ
Color Mode: 3
ICCProfile Name: sRGB IEC61966-2.1
Authors Position: A.Ph
Viewing Conditions Illuminant Type: D50
Measurement Observer: CIE 1931
Measurement Flare: 0.999%
Measurement Illuminant: D65
Color Transform: YCbCr
Flash Return: No return detection
Flash Mode: Off
Flash Function: False
Flash Red Eye Mode: False


So I am sure that you have the same opportunity to investigating you images as well.
 
First image..

File change date and time: 2009:09:14 09:54:33
Image input equipment manufacturer: EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY
Image input equipment model: KODAK EASYSHARE CX7300 DIGITAL CAMERA
Software used: Version 1.0000
Exposure time: 0,5
F number: 4,5
Exposure program: 2
ISO speed rating: 140
Shutter speed: 1
Aperture: 4,33
Exposure bias: 0
Maximum lens aperture: 4,33
Metering mode: 2
Flash: 25
Lens focal length: 5,9
Exposure index: 140
Sensing method: 2
Custom rendered: 0
Exposure mode: 0
White balance: 0
Digital zoom ratio: 0
Focal length in 35 mm film: 37
Scene capture type: 3
Gain control: 0
Contrast: 0
Saturation: 0
Sharpness: 0
Subject distance range: 0



Second image..


Orientation of image: 1
File change date and time: 2009:09:14 09:56:46
Image input equipment manufacturer: EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY
Image input equipment model: KODAK EASYSHARE CX7300 DIGITAL CAMERA
Software used: Version 1.0000
Exposure time: 0,5
F number: 4,5
Exposure program: 2
ISO speed rating: 140
Shutter speed: 1
Aperture: 4,33
Exposure bias: 0
Maximum lens aperture: 4,33
Metering mode: 2
Flash: 25
Lens focal length: 5,9
Exposure index: 140
Sensing method: 2
Custom rendered: 0
Exposure mode: 0
White balance: 0
Digital zoom ratio: 0
Focal length in 35 mm film: 37
Scene capture type: 3
Gain control: 0
Contrast: 0
Saturation: 0
Sharpness: 0
Subject distance range: 0


Here is the metadata extracted from both image (properties) posted by you, assuming that you set the camera on automatic mood so flash did fire but the range of those small flash units are limited in 1-3 meters so it can not cover the long distance objects, then the shutter speed is set to 1 second while exposure time was set at 0,5 sec when the flash was in use! (I am not sure why, it must have something to do with the cameras confused metering system).

In old school photography, shutter speeds less than 1/60 sec readings needs a tripod/monopod no matter how stable your hands are it’ll ruin your image or giving you unwanted effects (unless it was intended to).

However, I would like to suggest that next time when you are going to use your camera in low light environments, night scene etc. Set it on (movie mood) instead of (still mood) and shot in small sequences, then load and run it on your computer and capture the (still images) from the movie files, you’ll get a much better and less confusing results because the cam ISO speed on movie mood goes up to 700+ (instead of 140) which will give you a bit grainy but much more stable images.

Good luck..
 
Qbone - excellent photo and good analysis!

Joan - This happens to me all the time, even with tripod; should see attempted pictures of Jupiter, the shutter speed is just too slow to capture most celestial moving objects. Great view in your shot!!!

Thank you all!

September 4th moon photo had a delayed shutter speed and the distortion is notable (tripod used).

Sept_04_2009_028
 
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