When fullmoon is rising resp setting then Sun is setting resp rising. Which is not the case here.

Bob Dumon…I’m not sure that most starburst filters don’t give a softer image than stopping down. Diffraction can be bad on some lenses when stopped down but without comparing the difference I’ve no idea which would be the more preferable. As I use ‘L’ series lenses though which so far show little diffraction when stopped down, I’ll stick with stopping down when I want a starburst effect.

Cheers.

Hi, Peter. Good question. The sensors are designed to handle that option. Although on principle I would not recommend pointing a camera into direct light in one spot on live view for hours at a time, the amount of time that you would typically need to take some photos should be no problem.

Hi, Phil. I agree, the tasteful use of the star filter effect can really add to a final file. That said it can easily be over done, subtle is usually best.

You can start with a trip you a good old fashioned hardware store and buy different small samples of fine wire mesh screen materials. I’d recommend testing various types to see what works best. If’s it’s really fine it will act more like a softener, if’s it’s too coarse it won’t work as a star effect. You can get “official” and mount the material in a can you can shoot through or on a spare lens hood or just use tape to hold it over the lens. That said the fun is in the experimentation!

Note: The color of the mesh will matter, if is it black the image will hold more contrast while a lighter color will hold less punch and of course that is also something you can play with.

As always with filters, you will be “baking” the effect into the file, so if you think it’s a great shot without the filter do it with and without, that way in post production you can always just “ghost” the effect in as a layer.

And finally if you want to go all digital, a quick search will locate various tutorials and commercial digital only effects that you can add it post.

Happy Shooting!