Ghost Headlights and Pictures

[kolechovski]

Any time I try to take a dusk/night/dawn picture, assuming it turns out at all, I get ghost headlights that appear a little away from the front of the train, like in the pictures below. They appear about as clear as the headlights normally do, rather than the flood-lighted look you see in the picture of the actual headlights. What causes these ghost headlights to show up? Is there any way to get rid of them when taking the picture? And how may I get the actual headlights to look like the ghost headlights, so they don't flood the front of the loco with too much light? Thanks for your help.

http://www.imagedump.com/index.cgi?pick=get&tp=213386
http://www.imagedump.com/index.cgi?pick=get&tp=213390

[chad thomas]

What kind of equiptment are you using (body/lense/filters)

[kolechovski]

Well, just a digital camera...an HP camera...I forget what kind it is right now...I tried a few different settings...no real difference, except to the pictures in general...I tried messing with a few lighting options, as well as the Night and Beach&Snow options, but nothing helps overall.

[chad thomas]

I'm old school. I shoot 35mm slides. I have a hand me down digital that I never use. So I don't think I can help you. The problem looks to me like light reflecting between the lenses internaly. I hope someone else here can help you out.

[northwesterner]

Chad has it about right. Whether you are using film or digital media, your camera still uses glass lens elements to focus the image. The internal reflectiions between these elements is what is causing the ghost images. Since they are composed of much less light than the real images, they appear sharper. Also, the real headlights are many times brighter than the overall brightness of thescene, so they tend to overwhelm the area around them, hence the glow.
How to fix this? Sorry, the physics of optics cause this. One option is to buy a better lens!

[tree68]

A rule of thumb when shooting sunrises and sunsets is to turn your back to the sun and set your exposure there. This may not be possible with your digital, but it bears a look, as it would help keep the headlight from washing out the rest of the picture.

Watch your shooting angle, as well. Head-on, you'll get the full effect of the headlight. A 3/4 shot will dim the light from the headlight considerably.

I'm no expert on lenses (I just use them), but I'd say that you may be stuck with the internal reflections. Some lenses are "coated" which may decrease the reflections, but as long as there are smooth surfaces involved, there will be some reflections.

[zardoz]

Best advice to reduce those pesky reflections: remove all filters, including any UV, polarizing, whatever. You will notice that headlight reflections are exactly offset from center opposite the headlights. Light is being reflected from the front of your main lens and is being reflected off of the inside of any filters you have attached.

Nothwesterner is correct in that a better lens will reduce this problem. The best type of lens to reduce this problem is to use a fixed-focal length lens (less lens elements inside the lens barrel) rather than a zoom lens.

Tree68 is also correct that high-quality multi-coated filters (if you MUST use a filter) will also reduce, but not eliminate, this problem.