What am I doing wrong?

[omghidanielle]

We went to the Jersey shore last night for fries and ice cream, and so I could get some experience with my new 50mm f/1.4. I had a little luck, but I had a lot of trouble with shooting anything with lights. How do I get rid of these 'ghosts'? What did I do wrong?

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4092/4960856942_314271f000_z.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4108/4960262851_b27e6de2c0_z.jpg


TIA! :goodvibes

[mom2rtk]

Do you have a filter on your lens?

[disneyboy2003]

I think you captured definitive PROOF that UFOs really DO EXIST!!! :eek:

Do you have a UV filter in front of your lens? If you do, does the UV filter have any anti-reflective coating on it (ie. is it a multicoated UV filter)?

If you do have a UV filter, then what you're seeing is likely lens flare. We just had a thread about UV filters and lens flare just earlier this week!

Lens flare is worse when (1) you have a UV filter, (2) your UV filter is just a plain filter & doesn't have any anti-reflective coating on it, (3) when your lens is pointed in the direction of bright lights.

Next time, to avoid lens flare, remove your UV filter when you're shooting in the direction of bright lights (whether it's day or night).

If you *really* need a UV filter for your lens, try using a multicoated UV filter. The anti-reflective coating on a UV filter significantly decreases lens flare in your photos. I would go with multicoated UV filters from brand name filter companies.

To correct your current photos, you can use Lightroom's Spot Removal tool. (someone else had problems with Baby Acne yesterday on this message board, so you can find instructions on using Lightroom's Spot Removal tool there). You can also use Photoshop's Healing Brush or Spot Healing Brush to correct this, too.

Hope that helps. I love ALF! :love:

[omghidanielle]

Hey! Thanks, guys! It's probably the filter.

You wouldn't believe the crazy things I thought I was doing!

Now I need to go back to do it all over again! hahaha

[saturndb]

To get rid of ghosts, you need to call the ghostbusters :lmao: