How to create a sunburst

Cat Island, Bahamas (1/160th f/11)

Yesterday I was working with one of my  students on an assignment and the question  came up on how to create a sun “flare” or “burst” effect in photos.   I must admit I’m a big fan of the effect and enjoy using it on images that I feel are appropriate.   So here are the three easy steps to achieve the sunburst effect:  First things first. You need to shoot this effect on a bright sunny day.  It’s hard to create the effect in poor weather conditions (if not impossible).   Next, you need to set your camera to the aperture priority mode, which happens to be the setting I use for much of my shooting .  Once you’re in aperture priority mode set your aperture to f/16 or higher and point your camera to the sun and shoot. Lastly, and this is key, remember as kids when you use to stare at the sun for like 20 seconds and walk around blind like an idiot in front of your friends for the next five minutes?  Well, don’t do it with your camera either.  Just get your camera set up, compose the shot and shoot.  You  can review your image on the  LCD to double check if you’ve  captured the desired effect.  Often times I’ll take several shots at f/11,  f/16 or f/22 while playing with the exposure a bit.     Now, some have asked if shooting the sun will damage the sensor?  I can tell you I’ve been shooting the sun for years now and have had zero problems with my sensor.  I do own a left eye patch now (just kidding) but, keep in mind, I don’t set my camera on a tripod and take long exposure (I’m not even sure why you would) so my sensor is only exposed for a fraction of a second .   Frankly, you run a much greater risk of damaging your camera by leaving the lens cap off and resting it on the table for hours on end with it being pointed to the sun.   So, on the next bright sunny day go add a sunburst to one of your images so that you can enjoy  the  sun on those crappy days..;)

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This entry was posted on Friday, December 11th, 2009 at 9:44 am. It is filed under composition, Landscape and tagged with aperture priority, sun, sunburst, sunflare. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.