What is Moiré? Why Your Shirt Looks Weird in Photos

DefinitionStrange wavy lines that appear when photographing repetitive details.

1The Simple Explanation

When two grid patterns overlay each other (like the mesh of a screen and the pixel grid of your camera), they create a third, larger interference pattern. It looks like a psychedelic ripple.

2Technical Deep Dive

It is an aliasing artifact. Cameras use Optical Low Pass Filters (OLPF) to slightly blur the image to prevent this, though modern high-res sensors often skip the OLPF for sharpness.

Common Misconceptions

Myth: It's a glitch in the camera. Fact: It's a phenomenon of physics (wait until you learn about wave interference). Fixing it usually requires changing your distance or angle.