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A weird green glow in my shot from the Joshua Tree star party
I was out at the Joshua Tree star party a couple weeks ago, trying to get a clean shot of the Milky Way with my old Canon 6D. After a 30 second exposure, I checked the back screen and saw this faint green glow along the bottom edge of the frame, right above the horizon. It wasn't there in my test shots from home. Some folks near me said it was probably just airglow, a natural thing from atoms in the upper atmosphere. But another guy was sure it was light pollution creeping in from Palm Springs, maybe 40 miles away. In my experience, light pollution is more of an orange dome, not a thin green band. I'm leaning toward the airglow idea, but I've never caught it so clearly before. Has anyone else snapped a photo with a weird color band and figured out for sure what caused it?
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seth_shah1mo ago
Check your lens hood for a loose fit, that can cause weird internal reflections with bright stars.
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mia7001mo ago
Actually lens hood reflections usually show up as distinct shapes or color tints in the image. Internal flare from a loose hood is pretty rare in my experience. The main issue with astro photos is often internal reflections from the bright star itself hitting the sensor and bouncing off filter surfaces. A tight lens hood helps with stray light from the side, but it won't fix that internal bounce path. You'd want to check if you're using a filter first, maybe even take a test shot without one.
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the_jana1mo ago
Good point about the filter. Had a similar thing happen with my old 50mm, got these weird ghost orbs around Sirius. Took the UV filter off and it was like a different lens, just clean pinpoint stars.
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