Blinded by the Light by John Lottes

John Lottes

"Blinded by the Light"

Contrived

 

This picture, taken at a Nine Inch Nails concert, illustrates a lens flare of a purple light. When the light from this stage light projected through the lens of the camera, there are a couple of things that may have happened to it that to cause this phenomenon. Internal reflection may have occurred in the lens before it transferred the image. Internal reflection is when the light entering the lens hits at a large angle away from the normal. The light reflects inside of the lens before it exits at a different angle than the rest of the rays from the object making it much brighter. Another reason lens flares occur is due to aberrations in the material that the lens is made of. An aberration is a defect in the surface or material of the lens. This defect may send the light scattering in a different way than the rest of the image, causing the flare to occur. If you'll notice, there is a flare around the source of the stage light, and several smaller flares as you move down and to the left. These smaller flares help show that the lens is also diffracting the purple light, breaking it apart into its components.

Done