On the 9th of May 2008 the Derry (Ireland) Journal posted an account and photo of what's alleged to be a UFO sighting photo. You can read the full Journal story here.

The witness stated to the paper:

"I am writing to see if you would be interested in a picture which was taken on my mobile phone yesterday (Tuesday, 6/5/08). It was taken from a car while travelling to Prehen in Derry. I realised that there seemed to be an unusual object in the sky and decided to take a picture. On examination it seems to be a saucer-like object flying flying not far above houses on the Prehen Road."

The photo:

The photo provided in the news story was far too small for any real examination but I found it intriguing, so I wrote Julieann Campbell, a reporter at the Derry Journal Newspaper. Julieann was all too willing to help by giving me contact information for the witness, and sent me the full resolution of the photo, which was a sizable 4' X 5' 300 dpi image in comparison to the web provided image in the story.

The first issue I encountered was the focal quality. This photo was allegedly taken with a cell camera, however the focal issue is unrelated to the camera, no matter what it is (Nokia 5500). In short, the close proximity of the window strut of the car, and blackout windshield edge, show exactly what we'd expect - out of focus foreground objects. However, the disc, which is supposed to be at some distance is of the same focal quality as close proximity objects. The car, trees, and homes all show relatively good focus for the shot.

Short of the story, the focal quality alone tells us this object is close and small, not distant and large enough to be focused upon as well as other objects in the photo.

So what is it?

I have no way of actually knowing what the object is, what I can say for sure is it's not distant and large. It's very close (perhaps right outside the window) and small. One astute member at abovetopsecret.com under the screen name "Did you see them" said he found some small candies called "Flying Saucers" that seemed to match the proportions and of course the shape:


 

This object could have been sprayed with silver paint, and held at a pinched thumb and forefinger outside the window. The object is obscured on the left edge, by the windshield blockout (sawtooth pattern on window). Interestingly enough, if one looks at the full size closeup:

Note the focus is equal to the close proximinty window. Trees are in focus..etc. 

You can actually see the fingertips, fingernails, or some other supporting structure at the left partially obscured edge through the sawtooth pattern. The pattern is disrupted by objects above and below the "lip" of the disc. Looking just at this full size area, one can also note the darker area under the domed bottom towards that left edge. Look carefully, it's curved and slightly darker. This would likely be the bottom finger, or supportive structure reflected as a darker area by virtue of the convex edge.

In this green channel level enhanced version I've tried to make it more apparent, rather tough due to size but very visible (you may have to adjust your monitor):

My personal opinion is that what we're seeing here is the reflection of the finger holding the bottom edge of the object's "lip". There's simply no other reason for it to be there. However, I can't rule out that we could also be seeing the reflected edge of the window...there's no way to tell for sure.

But, the focal quality is it's ultimate downfall. As you see in the full size crop, the focal quality is the same as the edge of the windshield while the rest of the photo is relatively clear and in focus. This factor is easily missed in the sized version presented on the web, but is glaringly obvious in the full size version. 

As far as I can tell, no image editing program was used to make this shot. It's just a small object close to the camera, held outside the window.

I was almost glad to see someone use a small object with no digital manipulation to make a UFO shot. In these days of Photoshop and commercially available CG composite programs it's kind of interesting to see people try it the old fashioned way.

Unfortunately this image gained a lot of attention all over. To this date it's still the most viewed story on the Derry Journal website. I did get an email from the photographer, who gave permission for me to post the photo here, and gave me a brief rundown of his "sighting". I asked further questions which have gone unanswered .The Derry Journal has been advised of my findings.