WTF is THIS...strange rays!!!

[bvar22]

I was playing with my digital camera tonight (Olympus C-750).

I got a hot shoe flash (SUNPAK Digital) for Christmas, and was trying it out in a dark restaurant. It only works in manual mode with variable f2.8 to f 8.
I was playing with the lower f/Stops when these rays appeared.

It was too dark to focus, and I was just pointing and shooting. I was surprised by these light patterns and would love to duplicate it in the future.

Can anyone explain this effect to me?

[electricmonk]

1. My guess

The flash fired and froze your subjects then you moved the camera while the shutter was still open which recorded the lights as streaks. There wasn't enough light to record anything else so you didn't get ghost images also.

[bvar22]

4. You might be right.

I hadn't thought of that.
The camera does have a sound function that simulates the shutter noise of a SLR, but with the noise in the restaurant I may not have heard it.

I'm still learning this camera and digital photography in general. Through experimentation (playing with before reading instructions), I discovered that the flash would fire in manual mode with "aperture" as the variable( which I was changing). I'm guessing that the rays appeared at the higher F/Stops with the camera trying to autometer with longer shutter speeds. Since it was dark, the flash could have indeed frozen the people and streaked the lights. I'm guessing that at the wider aperture settings (lower f/Stops), the rays did not appear (they were only on some of the pictures).



I bet my camera has a setting for External (hot shoe) FLASH. (DUH)

I'm thumbing through the instruction pamphlet, but it is rather limited.


Thanks.
Your theory does seem to account for light streaks.

[Schema Thing]

7. btw

"I'm guessing that at the wider aperture settings (lower f/Stops), the rays did not appear (they were only on some of the pictures)."

Yep. The camera chose a faster shutter speed, since it had more light via aperture.

[SiouxJ]

2. I've got some of those too!

Taken at a party at my house on Labor Day. It was dark and we were outside on the deck.



Taken with my digital Canon Rebel.

I think your effects are especially cool! The lines overhead are awesome!

[SiouxJ]

3. You know what?

If you cropped the people off the bottom in the second photo, that would make a very cool abstract piece of art. I mean, it's interesting with the subjects, but the effect would be interesting on its own too.

[bvar22]

5. I agree.

I left the people and table in the picture as evidence that I wasn't just using long shutter speeds and moving the camera.
Electricmonk offered a plausible explanation in Post#1.

I do like the streaks, and plan on playing with them some more!

"Photographic Proof of Government Mind Probe Rays!"

[Schema Thing]

6. Slow shutter

Ambient light sources in the pic. Camera moves, ambient light source becomes a streak of whatever motion camera is given.

OR, there is a guy with flashlights in both hands wearing a black suit and waving his arms crazily back there; but he'd have to be fast! :)

Your camera likely has a flash-mode setting which allows the shutter to stay open even with the flash on. If you look at your camera book, they'll tell you to use this mode only with a tripod, boring tech writers that they are.