Posted by John Moore on February 3, 2010 at 9:10 PM
When I visited Buzzards Roost Arch back in December, the morning sun was white hot by the time it finally cleared the clouds on the horizon. I went ahead and worked with what I had.
that is a lot of flare. Why can't the weather just always cooperate?
Posted by Randy Wilson on February 3, 2010 at 11:04 PM
In spite of how hot the sun itself is, it's still low in the sky, and you've got a lot of low-angle light working for you that you can see in the trees and in the base of the arch on the right. The flare is unconventional, but I think it works well with the sun rays here and also provides some interest in what would otherwise have been the dark underside of the arch.
Yep, you should have done a better job of arranging the heavens to suit your photo shoot, but at least next time you'll know better than to let those clouds block your view of the sunrise. Live and learn, John, live and learn.
Posted by Larry Fischer on February 4, 2010 at 7:51 AM
I don't know why there is so much flare. Dust inside the lens???
Such particles are hard to see without a very strong light pointed at a very oblique angle into the lens.
But maybe it was all the distant limbs????
The photo is still worthy and I think the flare adds something..
the fisch
Posted by TIMERNST2 on February 4, 2010 at 8:47 AM
This type of flare is generally not caused by dust - it is just what the lens does when your point it towards a very bright light source. It does show how many different elements the lens has, what the color of the coating is on each element, the shape of your diaphram blades, and how wide open the lens is - the wider you are open, the larger and more round the shape of the flair is; stop down more and the flair spots get smaller and less round. If your blades create a round hole all the way through the f-stop range (instead of octagon shape) then your flair spots will be round also (this helps your background bokah)...
Dust spots will diffuse the light so much that you won't ever notice them except in very rare cases. That is why I always laugh when someone is trying to sell a used lens and notes how there is a scratch or spot in the glass and they say that you "can't see it on the images." Of course you can't. You would never see it on the image no matter how bad the scratch/spot, but the overall image contrast and perhaps sharpness would go down resulting in a lower-quality image. Just a few dust spots though is not an issue, and certainly won't cause your flares like this (by the way, filters WILL cause flare like this, which is one reason you should not use "protection" filters - they do nothing but add flare)...
My lenses sometimes have a little dust on them, it never shows up though. Now water drops are a different story, those things can ruin an image. I also love seeing cheap "protection" filters on nice lenses.
Posted by TIMERNST2 on February 4, 2010 at 1:16 PM
You are correct about the water drops - MUCH larger than a dust spot so they would show up, especially when they are on a wide-angle lens and you are shooting stopped down. Back in the good old film days 30-something years ago I once shot five rolls of Kodachrome 25 on my old trusty Nikon F2s of a scene that required me to hold the camera about an inch above a thrashing stream. It was an amazing scene with my 20mm lens. A month later when I got back home from an extended trip to the Wyoming high country and got the film processed, I discovered, much to my horror, that there were several water drops on the front of the polarizing filter and all of the images were ruined. Not quite in focus, but at f22 certainly in focus enough to mess everything up. That taught me a vital lesson that I remember to this day - I now always try to check the front of my lens/polarizer several times while I'm shooting around any type of water spray.
Posted by Darren Huski on February 4, 2010 at 5:27 PM
Actually there is so muc its kinda cool.
Posted by Tom Kennon on February 7, 2010 at 11:42 PM
John, sorry to be so late on this one, but I do like overall feel of your composition.
Discussion
8 replies16mm, f/16, 1/15 sec, ISO 100
Yep, you should have done a better job of arranging the heavens to suit your photo shoot, but at least next time you'll know better than to let those clouds block your view of the sunrise. Live and learn, John, live and learn.
Such particles are hard to see without a very strong light pointed at a very oblique angle into the lens.
But maybe it was all the distant limbs????
The photo is still worthy and I think the flare adds something..
the fisch
Dust spots will diffuse the light so much that you won't ever notice them except in very rare cases. That is why I always laugh when someone is trying to sell a used lens and notes how there is a scratch or spot in the glass and they say that you "can't see it on the images." Of course you can't. You would never see it on the image no matter how bad the scratch/spot, but the overall image contrast and perhaps sharpness would go down resulting in a lower-quality image. Just a few dust spots though is not an issue, and certainly won't cause your flares like this (by the way, filters WILL cause flare like this, which is one reason you should not use "protection" filters - they do nothing but add flare)...