Using Lens Flare to Your Advantage

You know, we all know about the rules of photography and rules of third, don't shoot into the sun, et cetera, et cetera. Well I wanna tell you that there are advantages of acquiring things like shooting into the sun or towards the sun and getting things like lens flare. Sometimes it works for you, sometimes it doesn't work for you but it is definitely another one of those visual tools that you should throw into that visual toolbox that can work for you at different times. I have found over the years that I seem to get more of them, and I don't know if this true or not, I've really never sat down and calculated it, but I seem to get more images where I'm using lens flare to my advantage in the winter months than as opposed to all of the other seasons. And I think the reason for that is because the sun is at a lower angle and it's not up as long and I'm one of those kinda shooters that doesn't mind shooting towards the sun.

I like that kind of light, that hard side light or that backlight that we get. And so when you look at images like this of the Russian ice fisherman, for example. We were on a shoot for Sports Illustrated, I was shooting these guys that were these Russian ice fisherman and the shot, when I was shooting him inside his plastic bag that you can see, was nice on the side where you just saw him and the light was behind me. But when I get into a situation like this, I tend to do 360s around my subject matter because it changes dramatically from one side to the other, especially when the sun is low like it was at this point. So look at that shot.

Now, look how strong that is where he almost becomes a silhouette and I'm shooting towards the sun and I'm actually getting these little lines and balls of flare that come through it. You know, that adds something to it for me. There's something real about looking into that and that flare that you get where you might cover your eyes, that comes across in the photographs, what makes it more real. And look at this other shot of the Mississippi headwaters where I'm looking directly at the sun and you're getting those little bands that are kinda the image shape of the diaphragm inside your camera that are cascading towards you. Or those little balls of fire that you get, the lens flare that comes out.

You look at these, and I think a lot of folks would say, "Geez, that's an easy take out in Photoshop." Well, you're right, it is. But is it necessary? Do you have to do that? I suppose you have the choice that you can. As an editorial shooter, I tend to shoot things real and I don't manipulate things that well but if that stock image ended up becoming used in commercial, a commercial art director might say, "No, we need to get rid of that." I don't mind it, I think it adds a little act of realism to the photograph and as long as it's not so big that it's going across a subject's face or it's obscuring something that's important to the integrity of the photograph, it doesn't bother me.

In fact, I like them. And so, keep that in mind that lens flare can work for you just as easily as it can work against you. But let me back up, when you are experiencing lens flare in your camera, I'm also one of those kinds of shooters that really uses my lens shades and I promote it in my workshop. Use your lens shade, use your lens shade. Why?

Because it eliminates flare. But yet, here I am talking about using flare as an advantage and so when you start seeing things like that happen and you see flare, lens flare coming through and it works to you, I tend to... Let me clarify, when I'm seeing lens flare in my lens and I'm using it creatively, I'm typically not getting the kind of lens flare that is washing out my image where I'm getting this ghosting that comes across and it's creating this layer of almost smoke and I'm losing my saturation and I'm losing my clarity to the shot. That's why lens shades are built is for us to protect that so you're getting that side light knocked out so it doesn't hit your lens and create the smokescreen. Lens flare, on the other hand, is that fine spot between those angles where you're starting to get those little balls of the reflecting through and coming through or a flare that comes out and actually works for it.

When you get that lens flare and you see that, if you underexpose your shot, you're going to get greater saturation but you're gonna have a darker image. So it becomes a choice of personal expression. Do you want that or do you not want that? Is it necessary to have that? The beautiful thing about digital photography now is that you can shoot it either way and find out whether or not you do.

And then of course it's just that angle on your camera that you change to where you can actually control how much of that lens flare you're getting. So there's situations like shooting a marathon where people are coming and they're going in the sun, you're down low, you're seeing the sun, you're looking directly into the sun, and you're down low and you're seeing people are going by and the sun shows up, the sun goes away, the sun shows up, the sun goes away. So that fast 10 times. And that's where the lens flare is going to happen. Why I like it is because then it's real.

It's being taken from the perspective of a fan on the sidelines, a judge where they're seeing this constant movement. It adds reality to it. And shooting enough allows you enough options and also the angle that you point your camera one way or the other, directly at the sun or slightly to the left or the right, is going to tell a different way of the lens flare showing up. And so you have all of those options. The beauty of digital is that you can look and see what you have and whether or not you like it or not.

The big thing is to try it and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't but it's just another way of being able to see the world in front of you.