An impressionist painting by Mother Nature

[tbob]

Van Gogh and the lads were not crazy , they just had really good eyesight.

I think this is quite fascinating. I was scanning this image for sensor spots and found this. It is the effect of heat haze over a long distance. Original image taken with a 400 mm lens at minus 23C. So heat is a relative term. I am not sure if it is heat or cold that is doing this. May even be sublimating snow.

Original


Crop from upper centre

[Bobobird]

Interesting discussion topic.

Could it be DOF considering it is a 400mm shot?

[PRSearls]

That's what it looks like to me although DOF might be contributing also. Atmospheric haze also reduces the contrast of the distant objects. This is a very significant problem when shooting over long distances with big telephotos on hot days. A still photo doesn't capture the "shimmering" you see through the viewfinder but it does capture the effect.

Paul S

[tbob]

Thanks Gents

it is a little bit of a quandry. On days like this there is a significant temperature shift from the valley floor to the top of the ridges. Commonly as much as 10 degrees C. with the top of the hill being warmer as the cold air sinks into the valley floor. I am not enough of a physicist to explain how the turbulence or layering affects the light refraction. It does look like heat shimmer, but it seems strange to see it on days when I can only shoot with my gloves off for under a minute. I agree there is some DOF involved. Most of the effect seems to me to be atmospheric shimmer.

I like the effect, although it is a problem for getting crisp shots. I never noticed it until I got a 400mm, actually it is a 200mm with a 2X converter so perhaps there is some influence there as well.