What happened to the beach?

[fordag]

Here is a shot I took back on xmas day of 02, yes the date on my camera was set incorrectly by me. In my gallery is one taken without flash that shows the normal beach in a snow storm.

Any ideas on what happened to cause the purple curtains of light?

Thanks,
David

[djwixx]

They're coming......................

[fordag]

Any other suggestions?

Thanks,
David

[djwixx]

Sorry - I have proclaim to be a clueless idiot.

[pinemikey]

This bit from PC World at http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/index.php ... 1585691688

Removing purple fringing

Scott Mendham, PC World

29/01/2004 08:25:18

The joys of digital photography. You take a wonderful photo and preview it on your camera’s LCD screen just to be sure. And, yes, it looks great. When you transfer the image to your computer, you notice that your camera has an unpleasant surprise — like a cheap 1980s’ haircut, certain parts of your image are now displaying bright purple highlights. Welcome to the world of purple fringing.

You probably won’t even notice the problem of purple fringing until one day it randomly strikes. The aberration is not always purple — it can stretch into magenta and other colours, but purple is frequently reported. The issue is even more confusing since the severity and colour tint will vary between camera models and conditions.

There are many technical reasons — and some disagreement — as to why purple fringing occurs in digital cameras. These factors include the lens, focus, leakage between pixels, and more. Most of the problems are a result of the camera’s design and there is little that can be done to change these factors. It is possible, however, to understand the shooting conditions that are likely to cause problems. The most common cause of purple fringing is low light with high-contrast boundary areas in an image. For example, the picture on this page was taken in the late afternoon on a cloudy day (low light). The palm fronds are dark against a white background that is also relatively bright (a high-contrast boundary). Even under these conditions, the degree of purple fringing with this particular photograph using a new Kodak camera was a surprise.

Avoiding the problem will depend on your camera, but the more successful techniques include using a higher aperture (f4 and above) and trying different zoom settings.

So basically, some purple fringing gone berserk. More or less.

[fordag]

I've heard of the purple fringing the article describes and I've seen it in photos taken by other cameras.

Unfortunately it never occurred in this camera before or after. I've been told by a friend who's been doing digital photography for years two things, one the purple lines in my picture are not consistent with the common purple fringing the article describes and two that if my camera has never done it it's not likely to do it just the one time so dramatically.

Excellent find though.

Thanks,
David

[djwixx]

By my understanding purple fringing is normally something that happens around the edge of objects that are brightly lit from behind, i.e. leaves with the sun behind cause it frequently. If you look at some camera reviews at http://www.dpreview.com/ you can see examples of cameras that sometimes have an issue with purple fringing - and the issue won't be the same as your example.

In this case I can only guess it might be a slight reflection that the camera has picked up more than it should, or a smudge on the lens has been over exposed due to the light condition.

But as I previously stated - I'm clueless.