Art and Photography

Image by suziesparkle via Flickr

Lens flare can occur when a bright light source appears in or at the very edge of a photograph and is often characterized by sun spots appearing throughout the image. It can also show up in your photographs as low contrast areas in your image. While the sun spots can sometimes add to your photo, the loss of contrast associated with flare rarely does.

Lens flare is caused when light enters the lens at such an angle that the light rays do not completely flow through the lens, but instead are reflected back and forth between lens elements. The sun spots created typically show the shape of the diaphragm (aperture blades) the camera was using at the time the photo was created. A lens with a 5 blade diaphragm will produce sun spots with 5 sides. The more problematic issue with flare though is the lack of contrast flare can introduce into a photo.

Lens manufacturers create lens hoods to help minimize lens flare and are made to fit a particular lens focal length but may not always be sufficient to block all of the flare. Lens hoods made for zoom lenses do not work as well as those made for prime (single focal length) lenses as the amount of coverage needed when zoomed to it’s longest focal length often creates a scenario when the lens is zoomed out to it’s shortest focal length, the lens hood itself will become part of the photo and cause vingnetting. As such, lens hoods are usually made to work best at the widest setting on the lens and become less effective the more the lens is zoomed in. Continue reading →