What is sun flare? - Streaks or shapes of light formed by scattering of light in the lens system. This could result in either very artistic and beautiful photographs or can ruin your photo if not intentional or controlled
You can do the following things if you are looking to inventing the straying light in your photograph to create the flare
- Keep your subject directly in between the sun/light source and the camera. Additionally if you want to create a silhouette effect (like a one shown above) you will need to position your subject in center of your frame violating the rule of third
- Focus right - With a lot of light, your camera may find it difficult to focus on the right part. Block the light with hand, focus, lock the focus and let the light come again. Alternatively use the manual focus if you are comfortable with it.
- Take multiple images with slightly different angles. As flares are unpredictable and this will give you more options to choose the best and appropriate flare
Preferred Camera Settings
- Shoot in Aperture priority mode
- Shoot with lower aperture to maximize the flare effect
- Shoot without a lens hood to increase the changes of creating flare
- Time of the day - You can create the flare anytime of the day just follow the basic principle of putting the subject in front of the light source and adjust the camera for exposure
