Why Are There Light Spots in a Photograph?
You look at a photograph that you've taken and find light spots. You have no idea where they came from. Your lens is usually the culprit for this phenomenon, and there are three different causes for it.
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Lens Dust and Water Spots
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Dust particles on the front of the lens are recorded as bright spots on the photograph. Additionally, sometimes changing lenses can allow dust to get inside the camera body and onto the rear of the lens. Water spots can be caused by accidentally getting the lens wet, or by bringing the lens from a cold place to a warm place, which causes condensation inside the lens.
Backscatter
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Some light spots are caused by the light of the flash reflecting off particles of dust in the air and back into the lens. These light spots are sometimes referred to as dust halos. This reflected light, known as backscatter, appears as small light spots on your photos. Compact cameras are particularly susceptible to this problem because of the short distance between the flash and the lens.
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Lens Flare
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When light enters the lens from an angle, it does not go through the lens. Rather, it is reflected back and forth throughout the elements of the lens and is recorded by the camera as light spots. This is called lens flare.
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References
- Photo Credit SLR camera lens image by Chris Gardiner from Fotolia.com
