Why Is My Picture Glowing?

[MaggyNoLia]

I'm using a Celestron Vistapix IS70 digital scope. About the only thing that I see that I can change from automatic is the exposure value. I fiddled with it taking shots under different values and it seems the glow still lingers in any picture with sunlight. Am I missing something? Can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong.

The digital scope in question can be found here http://www.celestron.com/c3/product.php?CatID=30&ProdID=417

Below is an example of the glow that I am talking about. You can see the bluish hue along the edges of his chest, the rounding of the tail feathers, and going up the right side of the eagle as well. I just want to know if I am doing something wrong or am I expecting more than the scope can do?

[LadySapphire22]

Where is Dave when we need him? He's one of photo gurus around here. He's probably out playing with the foxes again.

[MaggyNoLia]

Originally Posted by LadySapphire22

Where is Dave when we need him? He's one of photo gurus around here. He's probably out playing with the foxes again.

I'm hoping someone will respond sooner or later. I have some really good 'hued' shots...lol. I know some of my earlier images were me just not knowing the scope, but I've gotten so much better with the scope and I still can't seem to avoid it in some instances...to the point I'm not even sure I am controlling it elsewhere.

[Staff]

I'm going to move your thread into an area where it will be better seen.

Guess I'm not going to be moving it. I will put in a request to have this moved to the Wildlife Photo Tips Forum.

[biigblueyes]

Originally Posted by MaggyNoLia

You can see the bluish hue along the edges of his chest. ..

Maybe he's just feeling sad and blue. . .

[Dave Stiles]

It looks like your camera is catching an effect from the scope optics. I would guess that the sun was hitting the front coating and picking up a blue hue. In the future you may want to shade the side of the front of the scope to prevent the sun from hitting the glass.

Our eyes will compensate more than a camera ever will when it comes to things like this. I too had a similar problem, but mine involved video and a special eyepiece that turns my scope into a 4000mm lens. Great for those 1/4 mile distant videos of animal behavior where you do not want to alter their actions. - see here for a sample of video done using a spotting scope

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3z3c9grrpL0

It's better on DVD - web quality parsing is poor at Youtube ... sorry for the low quality.

[MaggyNoLia]

Originally Posted by Dave Stiles

It looks like your camera is catching an effect from the scope optics. I would guess that the sun was hitting the front coating and picking up a blue hue. In the future you may want to shade the side of the front of the scope to prevent the sun from hitting the glass.

I think I now see why some shots have had the hue and others haven't. Because I have to use the little screen for focus....it's LCD.....sunlight....well, sometimes I am taking pictures under an umbrella so I can see the screen and if we are out on the boat I will use the canopy to block the sun. Now if I don't have an umbrella..is there anything you would suggest to use to shield the lens? I'm thinking cloth would blow in front....poster board? Cardboard? What size would be minimal?

Originally Posted by Dave Stiles

Our eyes will compensate more than a camera ever will when it comes to things like this. I too had a similar problem, but mine involved video and a special eyepiece that turns my scope into a 4000mm lens. Great for those 1/4 mile distant videos of animal behavior where you do not want to alter their actions. - see here for a sample of video done using a spotting scope

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3z3c9grrpL0

It's better on DVD - web quality parsing is poor at Youtube ... sorry for the low quality.

I enjoyed the video very much. It's much better than the quality of my own videos that I shoot. I always zoom in too far so the video comes out very pixelated. I'll learn though...practice....practice.

A special eyepiece to turn your scope into a lens? I don't even know what that is but I think I already want one....<sighs>Man what I would give for a money tree right now.....

[doccat5]

Maggynolia, would you kindly share some seed or seedlings from that money tree as soon as you get one, please! LOL

Dave, just saw your video and it is super! Loved the interaction between Mom and the pups.

[Dave Stiles]

I'll use a baseball cap or my "Dr. Dave, Wildlife Biologist" Aussie Bush Hat or even my hand, anything to keeep the sun off the front optic of the scope...

As for the eyepiece - Nikon at one time produced a kit that included a ccd camera with thread adapter for their spotting scopes that also came with a 5" LCD screen to view the image on. It has RCA output plugs that go into my handheld camcorder. The only problem is that the scope then becomes a fixed focal length of 4000mm - which makes wildlife work any closer than about 200 yards almost impossible unless I'm watching a bee nest ... or trying to count the number of fleas on the nose of a fox

I dobelieve I have one of about 500 of the units that were sold in the USA.

[MaggyNoLia]

Originally Posted by doccat5

Maggynolia, would you kindly share some seed or seedlings from that money tree as soon as you get one, please! LOL

I don't see where that would be a problem.

Originally Posted by Dave Stiles

I'll use a baseball cap or my "Dr. Dave, Wildlife Biologist" Aussie Bush Hat or even my hand, anything to keeep the sun off the front optic of the scope...

Thank you for the help. That 'hue' creeps into some of my best shots and it's been very frustrating to me. I don't easily recognize what I've done wrong yet....I hope to get better at that. I'm going to make sure I have something with me that I can use to shield the light and hopefully that means my eagles won't look like they've been breeding in Chernobyl.

Originally Posted by Dave Stiles

As for the eyepiece - Nikon at one time produced a kit that included a ccd camera with thread adapter for their spotting scopes that also came with a 5" LCD screen to view the image on. It has RCA output plugs that go into my handheld camcorder. The only problem is that the scope then becomes a fixed focal length of 4000mm - which makes wildlife work any closer than about 200 yards almost impossible unless I'm watching a bee nest ... or trying to count the number of fleas on the nose of a fox

I dobelieve I have one of about 500 of the units that were sold in the USA.

If I had a setup like that it would be months before anybody saw me. Wonderful videos and thank you for sharing them.