3 - No other photos I took
that day, including photos taken of that same area and in
the same general direction, had a similar object
So that kind of rules out something being stuck to the lens
4 - The object is closer than the distant
hills
I can say that with confidence because the dark area underneath
the object is darker than the haze would allow if it was
more distant than, say, the far edge of the lake. However
that doesn't
rule out the possibility that the object is something very
small and very close to the lens.
Why didn't I see
anything until I downloaded the photo?
Even if it was a genuine flying craft, it's not too hard to figure out why I
didn't see it. When I take photos with my digital camera my eyes are focused
on the small LCD frame on the back of my camera. If something small like the
thing in the photo was zooming through the camera's view it would be almost impossible
to see it on such a small display. Therefore I'd miss out on seeing anything
that's gone after a few seconds.
Why don't I enhance the image further?
I use Photoshop every working day of my life but I'm no expert
in forensic photography. I show the object as it appears
directly from the camera and also with auto-levels applied
but nothing more than that, because my hunch is that the
more I 'enhance' it the more I could be unintentially introducing
my own bias into how it 'should' look. That's
not my intention.
So what is it?
My best guess is it's something between half an inch and
twenty feet wide, at a distance of anywhere between about
a foot and
a couple of miles - which doesn't really narrow it down
very much does it? Hey, maybe it's an alien spacecraft,
but unfortunately
the odds of that being the case are not great. Sending
the pic to a bunch of friends, the suggestions that
came back
include the following:
- An alien spacecraft
- Some sort of object
descending at high speed from the upper left to the
lower right of the photo
- A curled-up leaf blowing past at the
time I took the photo
- A hat. I think I can rule it out
being a hat because of the very high altitude of the object.
- A weather balloon. If a weather balloon
was being launched then it might have distorted into
the elongated
shape,
which combined with a blob of lens flare, could
account for the
bell shape. That might be unlikely, but it has
to be no more unlikely than an alien spacecraft!
- A radio-controlled
model glider. I think I can rule that one out too.
I would have seen the operator
of such a
glider and would also have seen the glider
Summing up
The annoying thing about most UFO pictures is that they
always seem to be out of focus and distant. Unfortunately,
this
pic is no exception. Personally I believe in the possibility
of alien spacecrafts but I don't believe this photo proves
anything. If anyone has any other ideas about
what this photo is
of,
I'd
love
to hear
from you.
Here are some details about the photo if you're interested:
Where
it was taken: From the lookout on the top of Mount
Tinbeerwah, near Tewantin in South West Queensland
Time
of the day: Approximately 4 pm
Date: April 17, 2005
Direction of photo: Approximately west
Camera shutter speed (according to
EXIF data): 1/550 of second
Want more info? The technically-minded
can click here to see a screen grab of the photo's EXIF
data
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