How to Do Lens Flare

Whether you are trying to dazzle the viewer with flashes of light or add a dreamy tone to a serene photograph, lens flare is a popular technique used by photographers. Caused by stray light from sources other than your target image hitting your camera lens, it is surprisingly easy to accomplish. With a few hints, you can accomplish lens flare in a variety of compositional circumstances.

Instructions

Techniques

1

Point your camera toward the sun. This is the easiest way to achieve flare, as the overpowering light from the sun reflects within the camera lenses. If for any reason you are not achieving lens flare, move the camera slightly at different angles while still keeping the sun in the picture. You will soon be able to adjust to find which angles create flare.

2

Point your camera toward a light source that is brighter than rest of the incoming light in the picture. This is the recipe for lens flare. The brighter these lights relative to the remaining incoming light in the picture, the greater the lens flare.

3

Place your subject in front of the camera with the sun in the background. This makes your subject backlit and, since your camera will automatically focus on your subject, the sun will flare in the background.

4

Use manual mode on your camera. If your allow your camera to proceed in automatic mode, it might adjust and make your subject into a silhouette. Use manual mode and adjust the exposure until your subject is lit and your background is slightly overexposed.

5

Shoot at an angle. If your camera is creating an extremely overexposed image instead of lens flare, shoot at an angle toward the sun or any other light source you are using to create flare. Instead of shooting directly at the sun, position your camera so that the sun is in the picture or slightly out until your subject is properly exposed. At noon, this may mean you will have to be fairly low to the ground. An hour or two before or after noon is the best time to achieve lens flare.

6

Switch to manual focus. This is especially useful if you are not using the sun as your flaring source. Focus your image such that your subject is in focus but the background light which causes the flare is not in focus. Often, this means you will have a shallow range of focus.

7

Remove the hood on your camera if you have one. Such hoods are meant to reduce stray light from entering your camera lens, and you want to increase this stray light.

8

Avoid using a wide angle lens. Wide angle lenses are more resistant to bright sources of light.

9

Use an older lense. Modern lenses have better anti-reflective coatings than older lenses, thus preventing lens flare. Try to use a lens made by Leica or Hasselblad because these lenses do not have any special coatings, allowing them to flare easily even with softer sources of light.

10

Use UV, neutral density filters or polarizing filters. These all make lens flare easier to achieve by introducing additional surfaces in which light can reflect.

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Whether you are trying to dazzle the viewer with flashes of light or add a dreamy tone to a serene photograph, lens flare is a popular technique used by photographers. Caused by stray light from sources other than your target image hitting your camera lens, it is surprisingly easy to accomplish. With a few hints, you can accomplish lens flare in a variety of compositional circumstances.

Instructions

Techniques

1

Point your camera toward the sun. This is the easiest way to achieve flare, as the overpowering light from the sun reflects within the camera lenses. If for any reason you are not achieving lens flare, move the camera slightly at different angles while still keeping the sun in the picture. You will soon be able to adjust to find which angles create flare.

2

Point your camera toward a light source that is brighter than rest of the incoming light in the picture. This is the recipe for lens flare. The brighter these lights relative to the remaining incoming light in the picture, the greater the lens flare.

3

Place your subject in front of the camera with the sun in the background. This makes your subject backlit and, since your camera will automatically focus on your subject, the sun will flare in the background.

4

Use manual mode on your camera. If your allow your camera to proceed in automatic mode, it might adjust and make your subject into a silhouette. Use manual mode and adjust the exposure until your subject is lit and your background is slightly overexposed.

5

Shoot at an angle. If your camera is creating an extremely overexposed image instead of lens flare, shoot at an angle toward the sun or any other light source you are using to create flare. Instead of shooting directly at the sun, position your camera so that the sun is in the picture or slightly out until your subject is properly exposed. At noon, this may mean you will have to be fairly low to the ground. An hour or two before or after noon is the best time to achieve lens flare.

6

Switch to manual focus. This is especially useful if you are not using the sun as your flaring source. Focus your image such that your subject is in focus but the background light which causes the flare is not in focus. Often, this means you will have a shallow range of focus.

7

Remove the hood on your camera if you have one. Such hoods are meant to reduce stray light from entering your camera lens, and you want to increase this stray light.

8

Avoid using a wide angle lens. Wide angle lenses are more resistant to bright sources of light.

9

Use an older lense. Modern lenses have better anti-reflective coatings than older lenses, thus preventing lens flare. Try to use a lens made by Leica or Hasselblad because these lenses do not have any special coatings, allowing them to flare easily even with softer sources of light.

10

Use UV, neutral density filters or polarizing filters. These all make lens flare easier to achieve by introducing additional surfaces in which light can reflect.

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