Interesting Photo

[markbellis]

But pretty well the brightest thing in that picture is the anomaly itself!

There's no evidence of anything much brighter, certainly no street lights!

By measuring the intensity values, the patch of sky you see in the right upper corner is much brighter than the flare, as are several other areas in the photo - the flare might appear brighter to some observers because of the orange color and it is against a dark background.
Again, a bright object outside of the photo can produce flare - you see this a lot in movies when the camera pans underneath the sun intentionally to get a flare without washing out the scene altogether - it was really a cliche in surf and ski movies in the 60s and 70s.

 

[Eve11]

As to direction, the centre of the picture is SSE - the river is pretty much flowing N to S in that section, but I've checked the map and with the bend it's slightly off exact alignment. Behind me is therefore NNW, and the sun is shining over my right shoulder (through trees, not direct) as it's heading toward sunset.

OK, that locates the area somewhere in the South Georgia Islands by the Falklands....

But if you were in England, the sun is always going to be in the southern section of the sky, particularly in winter - this is what the sun's position was at the time you took the photo

I'm aware that it's difficult to communicate direction etc with reference to a photo, so my apologies if I've fogged the issue, but just to clarify the river is flowing basically north to south, left to right, across the picture.
I am at a slight angle to the river, meaning my camera is pointing SSE, my back is pointing NNW. My right shoulder is therefore pointing roughly SSW, and the sun is shining over from slightly behind it as it starts to head west.
The point being, whatever the reference to compasses, the sun is shining from over my right shoulder, from low in the sky on the right side of the picture.

The second photo you referenced, is me pretty much turned round and moved forward 50 yards, facing as near exact SW as I can estimate.

I don't wish to sound prickly, but a lengthy membership of an amateur astronomy group, and part of an astrophysics degree (OK, OK, I was a drop out, so I don't actually have a AP degree) has left me with at least some residual grasp of the fact the sun is in the southern half of the sky in northern lattitudes, especially in Winter.
Though, technically, October is Autumn

 

[markbellis]

As to direction, the centre of the picture is SSE - the river is pretty much flowing N to S in that section, but I've checked the map and with the bend it's slightly off exact alignment. Behind me is therefore NNW, and the sun is shining over my right shoulder (through trees, not direct) as it's heading toward sunset.

OK, that locates the area somewhere in the South Georgia Islands by the Falklands....

But if you were in England, the sun is always going to be in the southern section of the sky, particularly in winter - this is what the sun's position was at the time you took the photo

I'm aware that it's difficult to communicate direction etc with reference to a photo, so my apologies if I've fogged the issue, but just to clarify the river is flowing basically north to south, left to right, across the picture.
I am at a slight angle to the river, meaning my camera is pointing SSE, my back is pointing NNW. My right shoulder is therefore pointing roughly SSW, and the sun is shining over from slightly behind it as it starts to head west.
The point being, whatever the reference to compasses, the sun is shining from over my right shoulder, from low in the sky on the right side of the picture.

The second photo you referenced, is me pretty much turned round and moved forward 50 yards, facing as near exact SW as I can estimate.

I don't wish to sound prickly, but a lengthy membership of an amateur astronomy group, and part of an astrophysics degree (OK, OK, I was a drop out, so I don't actually have a AP degree) has left me with at least some residual grasp of the fact the sun is in the southern half of the sky in northern lattitudes, especially in Winter.
Though, technically, October is Autumn

Didn't say it wasn't - the sentence "this is what the sun's position was at the time you took the photo" refers to the link to the map that followed.

Be that as it may, that doesn't explain how the sun can be back of your shoulder, yet illuminate the far side of the beech tree (I think it's a beech ) on the right, and if you look at the raised rim that runs around the dock on the left, the sun is clearly shining from the other side of the river.

 

[rynner2]

By measuring the intensity values, the patch of sky you see in the right upper corner is much brighter than the flare, as are several other areas in the photo...

If such ordinary areas of the scenery produce lens flares, it's a miracle any of us ever get any photos without them!

 

[Dr_Baltar]

Didn't say it wasn't - the sentence "this is what the sun's position was at the time you took the photo" refers to the link to the map that followed.

You're presuming of course that the clock on the camera is showing the correct time.

Be that as it may, that doesn't explain how the sun can be back of your shoulder, yet illuminate the far side of the beech tree (I think it's a beech ) on the right, and if you look at the raised rim that runs around the dock on the left, the sun is clearly shining from the other side of the river.

The lady knows the area very well. I suspect she knows best where the sun was when she took the photo.

 

[markbellis]

Well, remember, the photo was taken by a cell phone - I haven't looked at the particular model but other Sony Ericsson phones, like most cellulars, just have a single element lens with the lens close to the surface, something that's obviously going to cause problems.
Since having a multi element lens in an assembly that provides some shading would add a lot of thickness to a cell phone, the manufacturers have to make this compromise - hmmm, maybe one day they'll make one with a bayonet mount so you could snap a summicron on the front...

 

[markbellis]

Didn't say it wasn't - the sentence "this is what the sun's position was at the time you took the photo" refers to the link to the map that followed.

You're presuming of course that the clock on the camera is showing the correct time.

I'd asked that already.

Be that as it may, that doesn't explain how the sun can be back of your shoulder, yet illuminate the far side of the beech tree (I think it's a beech ) on the right, and if you look at the raised rim that runs around the dock on the left, the sun is clearly shining from the other side of the river.

The lady knows the area very well. I suspect she knows best where the sun was when she took the photo.

Good to have suspicions, but as I said, the position of the shadows actually agrees with where the sun would have been if the time was accurate and the direction of the photo was as stated - look at the chart - the only problem is that the sun could not have been over her shoulder, unless either she was a contortionist or there was a second sun in the sky that day. Even calculating the sun's position at sunset does not put it in that direction.

 

[markbellis]

Captain Disillusion to the rescue!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yh80XIhR ... randi.org/

I swear I am not Captain Disillusion.

Thanks to randi.org

 

[ElishevaBarsabe]

Whatever it is, it seems to be colored safety orange. I'm thinking an inflatible raft pushed up against the tree.

Edited to add: parachute?