Simple Facts About Lens Flare Photographers Should Know

Lens flare: it’s something that many camera and lens manufacturers have worked to suppress. While it can make sense, it can also be used very creatively to give off an effect that’s highly beloved. In fact, it’s usually frowned upon in photography but highly requested in cinema. Our website is primarily designed for photographers, so here are some facts about lens flare that you should know.

1. You can control the lens flare on your lens, usually by taking off the lens hood.
2. Lens filters to add really good lens flare are split diopters, Hollywood cross filters, horizontal lens filters, rainbow filters, and even smudges on a regular UV filter.
3. To get lens flare, you often need to point the lens into a light source. That is, unless you’re using a special filter to amplify the lens flare effect.
4. Lens flares can be used to add color and unique effects that you can add to your images that AI can’t necessarily create.
5. Aperture settings can control the effects of a lens flare, too!
6. Most sports coverage is shot using cross-section filters that add a special effect to lens flare. If you’re not using it to shoot sports photography, we’re not sure what you’re doing!
7. Lens flare is best when you’re trying to really bring emphasis to a specific thing in the scene. It can be nice with landscape photography — but even that depends on the scene that you’re photographing.
8. Lenses made before 2016 will probably be best for adding in lens flare to a scene organically, unless you can get a newer lens made based on an older design. Even then, good luck!
9. Lens flare is often best done in-camera because it allows you to make more creative composition and scene-building decisions from the start. Otherwise, you’d have to do it all in post-production. You’re a photographer, not a photo editor. Do as much as you can in-camera.
10. Don’t be afraid of using vaseline on your lens. You can clean it up after.

Mostly, I don’t think that anyone should ever discourage you from using a lens filter at all or embracing lens flare. It’s a creative choice.

Here’s something to keep in mind: all these lens manufacturers are in a race to create the most blank slate possible so that you can do whatever you want to with it. So if that’s the case, why not use a high end lens and put a cheap lens filter on it to make lens flare?

Or why not use an affordable lens with a filter and lens flare?

Most importantly, why does it matter if all that people will look at in the end is the end photograph?

Let’s focus more on making images that AI can’t easily duplicate because people can’t really describe them as well. And more importantly, let’s make these methods a secret again instead of letting the entire web know about how we’re making images. Let’s instead talk about what we’re trying to express in our photographs because they’re inherently still artistic expression.