Sun Falre - Guest Post by Patty of Finding Serendipity

Hi, I'm Patty! I'm a stay-at-home mom to 3 teenagers, married for 20 years :)...I teach fitness classess and am committed to nurturing the self-esteem of girls (you can check out my 31 days series with the tab to the upper left of my blog). 

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blog: Finding Serendipity

Sun Flare

ISO 400, f32, 1/500, 70mm

ISO 400, f/32, 1/500, 70mm

ISO 125, f/29, 1/100, 60mm

ISO 125, f/29, 1/320, 60mm

I love shooting into the sun... starbursts and sunflare just seem to evoke emotion. It's actually not hard, and it's shown me the value of shooting with a smaller aperture... Typically, I have my lenses wide open because I really like short depths of field. The number of flares you have in your starburst will depend on the number of blades in your lens. Here's how you do it:

• Use the widest angle lens you have.
• Set your aperture to at least f18. You can still get a starburst with a wider aperture, but it won't be as dramatic. As you begin to go much beyond f18, your image may begin to soften due to diffraction.
• Don't point your lens directly into the sun as it could hurt your eyes and your lens. You may even want to wear sunglasses while composing your image.
• Partially block {about 2/3} the sun with a subject if shooting during the day.
• If shooting at night, use a tripod to prevent blur because your shutter speed will be so slow.
• Focus on your subject first to get your settings right before moving your lens toward the sun or light source. You can also use your hand to partially shield your lens from the sun.
• You can achieve more dramatic bursts when the sun is low in the sky, sunrise and sunset.

ISO 125, f/25, 1/160, 60mm

ISO 125, f/25, 1/160, 60mm

Try it! You can use the sun, streetlights, reflections as possible light sources.

ISO 125, f/22, 1/20, 60mm

If you are using your cell phone, same idea applies, but you can often also create sunflare or starbursts by changing the angle the light is hitting your camera lens {tilting it!}. And I've had a friend say that shooting through your windsheild also helps. ;)