QUIZ: What Is Responsible For The Lightbeam?

gvfgvf Registered Users Posts: 356 Major grins
edited August 23, 2009 in Technique
OK, this is a quiz: The following is a well-known view of London. Whether you've been there or seen shots, you'd seldom see the scene with the light-beam on Parliament (near viewer's left).

So, the question is: what is responsible for the rare light, it's source?

ONLY RULE: Have to use this view, don't blow it up, that's cheating...

If there's any interest in this: I'll post the answer in a day or so.

.......35mm film

22634427_8Xccx-L-3.jpg

Comments

  • eL eSs VeeeL eSs Vee Registered Users Posts: 1,243 Major grins
    edited August 21, 2009
    Powerful (five candlepower) spotlights attached to hot air balloons while constables searched for Guy Fawkes. :D

    Or the modern-day equivalent.
    Lee
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  • thoththoth Registered Users Posts: 1,085 Major grins
    edited August 21, 2009
    This is, without a doubt, the becon used to summon Batgent and his trusty ward, Batlad.

    Or, I'll agree with Lee, in a round about way, that it's a searchlight from a helicopter. :D
    Travis
  • TonyCooperTonyCooper Registered Users Posts: 2,276 Major grins
    edited August 21, 2009



    That's the light at the end of the tunnel...November 20, 1990.
    Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida
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  • JathnaelJathnael Registered Users Posts: 28 Big grins
    edited August 22, 2009
    I was standing on the top of the wall, and took my shirt off.
    The light beam is a reflection off me.
    Jathnael Taylor
    http://bigshelfmedia.com
  • gvfgvf Registered Users Posts: 356 Major grins
    edited August 22, 2009
    From OP
    Powerful (five candlepower) spotlights attached to hot air balloons while constables searched for Guy Fawkes. :D
    Yes, EXACTLY ! How did you spot it so quick!

    No, of course not -- not Guy.

    (I admire all the posters' humor, and refusal to take this earth-shattering question seriously.)

    No so far, not close, no helicopter, no one's chest, Batman was in LA that day so that doesn't explain it. So, not that I think there's great fascination with the answer, but I'll give a good hint: the shot was taken with 35 film - and that is of high significance to knowing the source of the light beam.
    Now figuring out the puzzle is a snap.

    OK, OK, can't all talk at once! One person at a time:
  • MalteMalte Registered Users Posts: 1,181 Major grins
    edited August 22, 2009
    gvf wrote:

    ...the shot was taken with 35 film - and that is of high significance to knowing the source of the light beam...

    Some sort of double exposure?

    Malte
  • gvfgvf Registered Users Posts: 356 Major grins
    edited August 22, 2009
    Some sort of double exposure?

    Nope; (good logical try though).
  • thoththoth Registered Users Posts: 1,085 Major grins
    edited August 22, 2009
    Light from the viewfinder?
    Travis
  • angevin1angevin1 Registered Users Posts: 3,403 Major grins
    edited August 22, 2009
    SB800 on Manual Full power from the top of the London Eye!:D

    Blimp?
    tom wise
  • Art ScottArt Scott Registered Users Posts: 8,959 Major grins
    edited August 22, 2009
    light leak ............
    "Genuine Fractals was, is and will always be the best solution for enlarging digital photos." ....Vincent Versace ... ... COPYRIGHT YOUR WORK ONLINE ... ... My Website

  • AngeloAngelo Super Moderators Posts: 8,937 moderator
    edited August 22, 2009
    hmmmmmmm... one light source emanating from Parliament building, reflecting off "The Eye" back at the building?
    www.angelo.smugmug.com

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  • gvfgvf Registered Users Posts: 356 Major grins
    edited August 22, 2009
    OP: Last Hint + Prize for Winner
    No, none of these explanations - but I love the interest from all over the world, so one last hint and then I reveal Sunday (tomorrow 8/23) at some point, the actual explanation of the lightbeam.

    Last Hint: Not only is the source of the lightbeam intimately connected to it's being a 35mm film camera that shot it, but it would be impossible for this exact lightbeam to exist on any pictorial representation of the scene other than this type of camera. In other words, what about the camera's type makes it the only one that could record such an event.

    --O my GOD! It's so EASY now, I blew it with such an obvious hint.--

    AND, I'll make it even EASIER: you all have a household appliance that is used in relationship to similar events/situations and use it regularly.

    --How could I be such a FOOL to give it away like this.... --

    By the way, the winner of this contest will get a photo of Abraham Lincoln, never, ever before seen in the thousands and thousands of pages of information and libraries upon libraries about the former President.

    I don't have to tell you the value....
  • adbsgicomadbsgicom Registered Users Posts: 3,615 Major grins
    edited August 22, 2009
    It looks like the beam of light doesn't line up with the bright spot on the building. Is it light flare from cracking the back of the camera open just a tad before you rewound the film?
    - Andrew

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  • gvfgvf Registered Users Posts: 356 Major grins
    edited August 23, 2009
    It looks like the beam of light doesn't line up with the bright spot on the building. Is it light flare from cracking the back of the camera open just a tad before you rewound the film?

    No, but this is a brilliant failed attempt - Bravo!!
    (gvf, OP and Quizmaster)
  • thoththoth Registered Users Posts: 1,085 Major grins
    edited August 23, 2009
    High-speed shot of a parliament on a CRT televesion screen and the light beam is from the electron gun? :D
    Travis
  • gvfgvf Registered Users Posts: 356 Major grins
    edited August 23, 2009
    High-speed shot of a parliament on a CRT televesion screen and the light beam is from the electron gun?

    No, but you should get an award for thinking this up. Bravo!
    (gvf, OP and King of Quizzes)
  • leaforteleaforte Registered Users Posts: 1,948 Major grins
    edited August 23, 2009
    A UV, or heavy metal, paint reflection that was picked up by a an IR filter or camera?
    Growing with Dgrin



  • gvfgvf Registered Users Posts: 356 Major grins
    edited August 23, 2009
    A UV, or heavy metal, paint reflection that was picked up by a an IR filter or camera?

    My God, an Astro-Phyicist! No, no, no, no, no...... simpler, simpler, simpler
    though, Bravo!, for the science-knowledge.

    (and those who wear tin-foil hats can relax, no Black Hawk helicopters were involved)
  • adbsgicomadbsgicom Registered Users Posts: 3,615 Major grins
    edited August 23, 2009
    There also seems to be faint red arc in the sky, light part of a rainbow. I don't know if that helps anyone, or is just useless information. I'm still stumped.
    - Andrew

    Who is wise? He who learns from everyone.
    My SmugMug Site
  • hgernhardtjrhgernhardtjr Registered Users Posts: 417 Major grins
    edited August 23, 2009
    Light reflecting off a worn/shiny shutter curtain producing the diagonal flares — or an object moving at just the right speed to interact with a longish shutter speed producing the diagonal lines as the curtains traversed the scene. While most cameras have vertical shutters, many older ones had horizontal ones and a few even had diagonal ones. And many of the older ones were metal that got a bit of wear.
    — Henry —
    Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est.
  • gvfgvf Registered Users Posts: 356 Major grins
    edited August 23, 2009
    Light reflecting off a worn/shiny shutter curtain

    Sherlock Holmes couldn't do better, so Bravo! but no..... sorry

    And Andrew's "Rainbow" likewise but also no cigar.

    The clock is ticking and the hands move towards midnight, the very witching time of night when churchyards yawn and Hell itelf...
    Woops!, that Shakespeare, sorry... the building tension is getting to me...

    But don't be Cinderella, you can get it...On, On!
    (gvf/King of Answers)
  • gvfgvf Registered Users Posts: 356 Major grins
    edited August 23, 2009
    OP: The answer is now posted.
    OP: The answer is now posted.
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