Visual artifacts are anomalies apparent during visual representation as in digital graphics and other forms of imagery, especially photography and microscopy.
A retinography. The gray spot in the center is a shadow artifact.
Circular artifacts caused by backscatter from raindrops
Confocal laser scanning fluorescence micrograph of thale cress anther (part of stamen). The picture shows among other things a nice red flowing collar-like structure just below the anther. However, an intact thale cress stamen does not have such collar, this is a fixation artifact: the stamen has been cut below the picture frame, and epidermis (upper layer of cells) of stamen stalk has peeled off, forming a non-characteristic structure. Photo: Heiti Paves from
Cellulose contamination, in H&E stain and polarized light
In natural science and signal processing, an artifact or artefact is any error in the perception or representation of any information introduced by the involved equipment or technique(s).
Diffraction spikes and the Airy disk are optical artifacts caused by the diffraction of light through the aperture of an optical system.