Posts: 33
From: MA, USA
Registered: Jan 2012

posted 03-07-2015 08:23 PM               

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I visited the Kennedy Space Center visitor complex on Feb. 15, and captured hundreds of digital photographs with a Nikon D300 camera body and Nikkor 18-200mm lens. I'm currently processing them to tweak exposure, add captions, etc. prior to posting on a large web album. One photograph has something or some image defect that I cannot identify, and I would be very interested in how others might do photo interpretation of this case. There are what appear to be three small spots in the sky above the base fins of the Saturn IB main subject. Here is the overall image:

Here is a crop of a 100% portion showing the artifact(s) in question:

And here is a crop enlarged to 400%:

The image was captured during mid-day in a virtually cloudless sky. If those pixels represent three objects, the light distribution (particularly what could be specular reflections) seems reasonably consistent with the sun illumination angle as depicted in the ground shadows (i.e., from the upper left). At the time I was not aware of prominent aircraft noises, but it was a windy day and I was concentrating on the foreground subject. No other image has similar artifacts that I have yet found. I'm quite familiar with this camera and lens combination, having shot about 23K frames with it.

(I am not posting this as a joke or stunt. It is an actual photograph I captured with something a puzzle in the image.)

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From: North Carolina
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Posts: 33
From: MA, USA
Registered: Jan 2012

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From: Virginia
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From: Guyton, GA
Registered: Jan 2006

posted 03-08-2015 06:58 AM               

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quote:

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Originally posted by JBoe:
It doesn't look as "tapered" as the one below.

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It looks to just be a camera angle illusion.

Hard to say from a still rather than being there and seeing the movement but I agree either birds or balloons

Posts: 808
From: Marietta GA USA
Registered: Dec 1999

Posts: 243
From:
Registered: Jun 2014

posted 03-08-2015 12:20 PM               

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I had a similar occurrence while photographing a model of the Wright Flyer aircraft in my front yard back in July of 2008.

At the time I never noticed anything in the frame while I was photographing it. I took a total of 28 images and this was the only one with something unusual. So I do not think it was anything on the lens.

I felt it could be a bird at first, but I have lots of images I have taken with birds inadvertently flying through a picture and never are they fuzzy.

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From: England
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From:
Registered: Mar 2009

posted 03-08-2015 01:35 PM               

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Did a little more image enhancement of your original and I'm going with a flock of CM Boilerplates returning home to roost in the Rocket Garden.

(But, yes, I agree with "birds.")

Posts: 808
From: Marietta GA USA
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 03-09-2015 08:56 AM               

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Regarding the "fuzzy" bird image, your camera settings can certainly have an impact.

The aperture setting will affect depth of field (how much of the image is in focus) and the shutter speed will affect motion blur (moving objects won't be sharp).

Posts: 84
From: Houston, Texas, USA
Registered: Nov 2011

posted 03-19-2015 11:29 AM            

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"The truth is out there." — Mulder

Clearly these are UFOs.