I don’t advise taking pictures of the sun directly because it is my understanding that you can easily damage your eyes. But using the sun as a compositional element can add a little something extra to your photographs. The picture above is a 7 shot HDR to capture the dynamic range of the scene. I shot this in The Palouse a couple of weeks ago with my partner Denise. To achieve the starburst I stepped my lens down to f22 and positioned the camera so only a small amount of the setting sun could be seen. The next issue was what to do with the lens flare that usually results. I know many of us use UV filters to protect our front elements, but in this case I recommend removing any filters to possibly reduce flare. After processing the photo I had 3 small areas of flare to correct. I selected each area and used the Content Aware feature in Photoshop CS6. Some people prefer to leave the flare in their photographs. In my case I prefer to minimize this artifact.
tara
27 Jun 2013Awesome advise:) I love your work:)
Denise Ippolito
27 Jun 2013Beautifully done Don!
BillG
27 Jun 2013Gorgeous shot Don.
In regard to lens flare and shooting into the sun I have learned to minimize (and some times eliminate) flare by adjusting the lens slightly from one side to the other (also on the z axis) to effectively hide the flare within the lens elements. It works particularly well with wide angle lenses.
I love this photograph and thanks for this post.
Cheers,
-bill
Donald Rosenberger
28 Jun 2013Thanks Denise!
Donald Rosenberger
28 Jun 2013Thanks Tara!
Donald Rosenberger
28 Jun 2013Thanks Bill.. We have got to go shooting sometime!