Strange Artifacts: My grandson took this photo of the sunrise behind these mountains here. But for some reason some odd artifacts appear above the ridge near the center of the image.

Wingpilot Loc: Wasilla. Ak

My grandson took this photo of the sunrise behind these mountains here. But for some reason some odd artifacts appear above the ridge near the center of the image. We have looked at this and can't figure out what it is, so I asked him if I could post it here to see if anyone of you more knowledgeable folks have any ideas what this might be. Zoom in on the image and look just about center above the ridgeline to the right of the tall peak, in the pink sky.

(Download)

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

That is strange indeed. Does he shoot jpg or raw. I believe it to be a jpg artifact and this is because some pictures of color that gradually change have this happen especially on 8-bit images. But if 16-bit raw images are taken and if the image is processed and saved as a 16-bit image you should not have these artifacts.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Finally found what I think you are talking about. Had to download and then enlarge 3X.
A. No one but a dedicated pixel peeper will even notice in a print or viewed online. A very large print viewed at normal distance no one will notice. Get too close and if someone is looking for things they will find it, maybe.
B. I see the light was pretty dim and a very slow shutter speed used so if there was any snow plume blowing off the peak you would get blur and mixed brightness patches due to the movement the SS couldn't stop.
C. High resolution sensors not only show more detail you want, they also show more stuff you don't.

oldtigger Loc: Roanoke Virginia-USA

The same problem shows on the far left side of the ridgeline, just not as bad.

Erdos2 Loc: Vancouver, WA

My guess is a combination of things.

It looks to me that much of the sky where the subtle transitions from pink to purple occur has the same problem, just not as noticeable. There is a slight graininess in all areas of the sky with these colors. I think this is likely to be jpg artifacts. (I would love to look at a raw image)

The fact that it is worse near the mountains indicates the mountains have affected the image, at least indirectly. This could be a tiny amount of light blowing snow, slight temperature gradients, or reflections of colors from the other side of the mountains. The moisture (tiny ice crystals) in the air are likely to be the reflecting surfaces. It probably does not take a lot to get these subtle variations to pop-up in a jpg image.

I am not an expert in color variations like this (or probably any others), so I am very willing to concede to any other theories.

Jerry

Linary Loc: UK

Wingpilot wrote:

My grandson took this photo of the sunrise behind these mountains here. But for some reason some odd artifacts appear above the ridge near the center of the image. We have looked at this and can't figure out what it is, so I asked him if I could post it here to see if anyone of you more knowledgeable folks have any ideas what this might be. Zoom in on the image and look just about center above the ridgeline to the right of the tall peak, in the pink sky.

Can't help with cause, but the effect is reducible with noise reduction. To the right of the image along the top of the ridge is a pink "stroke" which actually follows the contour of the ridge. It reminds me of some of my not-so-clever attempts at painting over defects.

kpmac Loc: Ragley, La

Very nice image, though.

Wingpilot Loc: Wasilla. Ak

That is a RAW image, so maybe it is due to the wind blowing snow or ice crystals into the air. Perhaps it's from the sun coming up behind that ridge.

Thanks for the input.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Wingpilot wrote:

That is a RAW image, so maybe it is due to the wind blowing snow or ice crystals into the air. Perhaps it's from the sun coming up behind that ridge.

Thanks for the input.

Slow shutter speeds can actually catch the shadow etc in the air that the eye doesn't notice because the Brain PP filters it out.

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

could be real? Ice forming in the updraft of sun warmed air. But as it rises it is cooled by adiabatic cooling. " air temperature falls quite noticeably with increasing altitude." Moisture in the air would then form ice leafs which reflect light brightly. Much as Erdos2 described.

Years ago, I recall seeing in the cold upper Michigan early morning air above a power plant cooling water discharge rose and then formed a sparkling cloud directly above. There was no wind so it lingered.

SonyA580 Loc: FL in the winter & MN in the summer

If it really bothers you, select the sky area and add some blur. It won't affect the clouds or the colors and will remove the artifacts.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Wingpilot wrote:

My grandson took this photo of the sunrise behind these mountains here. But for some reason some odd artifacts appear above the ridge near the center of the image. We have looked at this and can't figure out what it is, so I asked him if I could post it here to see if anyone of you more knowledgeable folks have any ideas what this might be. Zoom in on the image and look just about center above the ridgeline to the right of the tall peak, in the pink sky.

Snow storm?

I wouldn't be concerned about that, since it's almost invisible. It would be nice to know what caused it, but I suspect it would be all guesswork.

leftj Loc: Texas

Wingpilot wrote:

My grandson took this photo of the sunrise behind these mountains here. But for some reason some odd artifacts appear above the ridge near the center of the image. We have looked at this and can't figure out what it is, so I asked him if I could post it here to see if anyone of you more knowledgeable folks have any ideas what this might be. Zoom in on the image and look just about center above the ridgeline to the right of the tall peak, in the pink sky.

It looks to me to be just some simple cloud fragmentation.

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

Wingpilot wrote:

That is a RAW image, so maybe it is due to the wind blowing snow or ice crystals into the air. Perhaps it's from the sun coming up behind that ridge.

Thanks for the input.

If we can see the image you uploaded, you didn't post a raw file.
Post the raw so we can open it and see for ourselves.
Looks like JPEG artifacts to me.

Japakomom Loc: Originally from the Last Frontier

To me it looks as if wind is blowing some snow up from the back side of the ridge.