How to achieve sun flare with couples

roc1

roc1

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I want to start using sun flare creatively on couple shoots such as it is here courtesy of Ross Harvey:

http://www.rossharvey.com/images/15335.jpg

Can anyone advise a good general camera setting to achieve this? Appreciate the right glass is a big part, I believe he uses the canon 50L 1.2, but aperture/exposure comp settings would be handy to know to make this work well how he does.

Thanks!
 
My personal method is to lock exposure before getting the sun in the frame.

The tricky parts:
The quality of the sun flare us lens dependant.
Lenses sometimes aren't 'wide open' when you're framing, they open up for the exposure, which means the flare effect isn't 100% predictable, you'll have to practice and chimp.
 
I don't think I've ever managed perfectly positioned circles around the sun like the one in the shot you link. Now I think about it, the circles are always some distance from the sun; maybe that's a result of how the physics works? In which case, the circles in the linked image may well be added in PS.

Anyway - there are two aspects to flare. There's the pretty circles, whether artificially added or not, and the general light-leak / low contrast effect. The light leak part you can simulate by holding a semi-transparent object partly in front of the lens, e.g. a sandwich bag coloured with a magic marker, a Christmas decoration, a piece of jewellery or (my favourite) one of the components of my son's marble run set. That way you don't need the sun shining directly into your lens.

Qualifier: Phil will know much more than me about this, listen to him...
 
Don't forget that from a customer's POV, this is definitely a Marmite thing. For every subject who likes a well-done flare shot, there's at least one who thinks it's a cliché that's been done to death over the last 20 years.
 
Phil V said:
Lenses sometimes aren't 'wide open' when you're framing, they open up for the exposure
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I think you have that the wrong way round. The advice is still correct though, viewing will likely be different to the actual exposure.


Steve.
 
Steve Smith said:
I think you have that the wrong way round. The advice is still correct though, viewing will likely be different to the actual exposure.


Steve.
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I'm led to believe that some fast lenses are stopped down a bit at rest, I think I got that from @HoppyUK, who I assume to be correct until he disagrees with me.
 
Phil V said:
I'm led to believe that some fast lenses are stopped down a bit at rest, I think I got that from @HoppyUK, who I assume to be correct until he disagrees with me.
Click to expand...

All DSLR lenses are held fully open at all times, only closing down to the shooting aperture for the actual exposure. It keeps the viewfinder bright, and provides best accuracy for phase-detect autofocusing. The only exception to that is in live-view when sometimes the shooting aperture is used for viewing. I think this varies according to camera, live-view settings, and light level, though I've not looked into the detail of it. Mirrorless CSCs are similar.

Producing good flare images is notoriously tricky if you want any kind of reliably consistent result. Lens behaviour various a lot, and with focal length and aperture, and tiny changes to framing can change everything dramatically. Live-view with the lens stop-down button pressed will give an accurate preview, though tricky in practise. Using the stop-down button will also give a pretty good idea through the normal viewfinder but there are other optics involved in that so not 100% reliable. You also need a different focusing screen to get an accurate idea of depth-of-field through the viewfinder if shooting at f/numbers lower than f/2.8.
 
HoppyUK said:
You also need a different focusing screen to get an accurate idea of depth-of-field through the viewfinder if shooting at f/numbers lower than f/2.8.
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Assuming that you do indeed mean at wider apertures than f2.8, why the need for a different screen?

Enquiring minds need to know :)
 
HoppyUK said:
Live-view with the lens stop-down button pressed will give an accurate preview, though tricky in practise. Using the stop-down button will also give a pretty good idea through the normal viewfinder but there are other optics involved in that so not 100% reliable. You also need a different focusing screen to get an accurate idea of depth-of-field through the viewfinder if shooting at f/numbers lower than f/2.8.
Click to expand...

Mirrorless cameras to the rescue!
 
Serendipitous Sid said:
Assuming that you do indeed mean at wider apertures than f2.8, why the need for a different screen?

Enquiring minds need to know :)
Click to expand...

Standard focusing screens are optimised for brightness and even illumination, but with lenses faster than around f/2.8, ie lower f/number (I think Canon states f/2.5 from memory) then even if you have a faster lens fitted you won't see anything brighter than around that aperture. It's the angle of the microprisms that just don't 'see' anything coming in from the periphery of the projected light cone. Easy to check with say an f/1.4 lens then progressively closing down the aperture with the stop-down button - nothing will change with brightness and DoF until f/2.8 and higher.

A few pro-spec DSLRs have interchangeable screens and the ones for fast apertures are actually less bright but show DoF more accurately, eg Canon EG-S screen for 5D2 http://www.wexphotographic.com/buy-canon-focusing-screen-eg-s-manual-precision-matte/p1028682 Other cameras can usually be fitted with a third-party screen from the likes of KatzEye (pricey) though I see from their website just now that the business is having difficulties and they're looking to sell it http://www.katzeyeoptics.com/ Maybe alternative screens are not so popular; that was the reason Canon gave for not making different screens available for the 5D3. I guess the option of live-view these days that shows everything exactly right has reduced demand.
 
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That makes sense. Much obliged, Richard. :)
 
roc1 said:
I want to start using sun flare creatively on couple shoots such as it is here courtesy of Ross Harvey:

http://www.rossharvey.com/images/15335.jpg

Can anyone advise a good general camera setting to achieve this? Appreciate the right glass is a big part, I believe he uses the canon 50L 1.2, but aperture/exposure comp settings would be handy to know to make this work well how he does.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Ross is on these forums, have you tried asking him?
 
roc1 said:
I want to start using sun flare creatively on couple shoots such as it is here courtesy of Ross Harvey:

http://www.rossharvey.com/images/15335.jpg

Can anyone advise a good general camera setting to achieve this? Appreciate the right glass is a big part, I believe he uses the canon 50L 1.2, but aperture/exposure comp settings would be handy to know to make this work well how he does.

Thanks!
Click to expand...


Angle of sun, atmospheric pollution, aperture used.... and of course lens used are all big factors. I have a Helios 44 that does it briliantly... but actually... the good old Nikkor 24-70 f2.8 at around f5.6 to f8 when at the long end does a good line in "contre jour".

It's not something I do often, as it's a bit cheesy and over used, but every now and then when the lights right, and the subject suits it break out the 24-70. It does it beautifully.

View attachment 33126


I know it's not a couple shot... well.. technically it is... as in it's a couple of people :) ... but light is light.
 
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