Dgrin quiz- what caused this effect?

JC

Anyone have any idea what caused this effect in my pictures?

I have to go get stuck in a couple of feet of mud now, but I'll come back tonight! Thanks for playing.
1)- zoom

2)

helloyo53

Looks kind of like scratches to me, either on the lens or, if you used a filter, on the filter. It doesn't really look like lens flare, so I would say hae to say it's scratches somwhere on your lens/filter.

zoomer

Agree it does look like scratches. Is it a repeating pattern in all the photos?
Would probably never show up under normal lighting conditions.

konomaniac

Add me to the lens/filter camp - the same patterns appear in both pictures. Not sure whether it's scratches or something on the lens or filter. Looks like an artifact from cleaning - either smearing something, or rubbing grit around.

aj986s

Ditto on the scratches. My guess is the front element may have been incorrectly wiped at some point, and the coating's been scratched. Also guessing the shot was taken with a very small aperature, which helped make the scratches more visible.

Otherwise.........a very scary set of spider web remains flapping in the breeze.

JC

Hint-



these guys see it too.. I'm hard on my gear-but not that hard-not scratches

Richard

Giant flying spiders?

Qarik

can't be scratches on the front element or filter..you would never see them so defined/clear. haha..they do look like spider webs

Azzaro

Is it a time exposure.....Maybe something flying around a light...

Dogdots

When do we get the answer

Cuong

Spider web on the cable.

Cuong

WillCAD

They look like scratches to me, too, but they can't be on the front element or filter, because they don't occupy the same spot relative to the edges of the frame.

They seem to be consistent in size relative to the tower, leading me to wonder if they are not a photographic remnant or a lighting effect, but an actual physical object in behind the tower.

They're behind the tower. How far is not clear, but the size of the tower means that the tower is at least 50' from the lens, so the objects have to be at least that far away - meaning they're quite large.

In the hint pic, the two guys are standing behind the tower, and are still looking off to some distance, but judging by the angle of their heads relative to the tower, it kinda looks like the objects are close; say, closer than the far edge of the field.

I'm at a loss. I can think of a few things it might be, but none of them seem likely - cloud formation, aircraft contrails, balloon strings, insect swarm, windborne plant fibers (quite likely since the tower is part of some kind of harvesting machine)... But I'm at a loss.

JC

aj986s wrote: »

Otherwise.........a very scary set of spider web remains flapping in the breeze.

Richard wrote: »

Giant flying spiders?

Qarik wrote: »

haha..they do look like spider webs

Cuong wrote: »

Spider web on the cable.

ding ding ding

Dogdots wrote: »

When do we get the answer

Now! It's been a busy day in the field.

You guys are smart. This is gossamer. Apparently the original source of the word. Ballooning spiders- some big migration. The air was filled with spider silk, fairly high in the sky, it wasn't just floating around at eye level or tree level, it was pretty high, and pervasive.

Here is a shot earlier in the day with my p&s, unfortunately my hands were too dirty to even think about touching my bigger camera until later in the day when the threads had begun to bunch together and festoon everything. I couldn't really capture it with the camera, but early on it looked like Fresnel lens in front of the sun.



another shot- you couldn't see these lines festooning the rig wire unless they were backlit- so the two drillers couldn't actually see the ones on the wire. And I didn't see the ones apparently attaching to my lens while I was shooting.
-with the big camera.


Definitely one the harder things I have ever tried to capture (almost typed 'on film')



The after effects. I had spider lines all over me. I found at least a couple of spiders on my hotel bed after dumping all clothes on the bed.

Richard

Holy s*#t, I thought I was kidding.

aj986s

Wow! Nature is always gonna one-up us meager humans.

jackiejay

wow that was something Ive never seen nor will ever see great catch and set of pics

Dogdots

That's really cool. Would of loved to of seen it in person. Never heard of this before.

JC

Thanks all- I'd heard of this phenomenon, but I'd never seen it. Talk about being in the right place at the right time. I just wish I'd been able to get a shot that better served the reality. It was almost worth all the creepy crawly feelings I was stuck with all afternoon. We had spiders all over.