Lens flare

Bigvin

Bigvin

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I was out at High Force Waterfall yesterday and took about 20 shots from the base of the waterfall. Only two of these shots didn't have really bad lens flare.

Is there anything that I can do to reduce the chances of this happening again?

Is there something I'm doing wrong which is causing this?

It's all a bit gutting to feel that I've wasted the day by not getting any good shots.:(

Any help would be appreciated.
 
Were you using a lens hood? That would help.
Were you using a filter? That would NOT help! :)

Or just avoid shooting into the sun. Was the lens wet with water droplets?

Can you post a picture?
 
awp said:
Were you using a lens hood? That would help.
Were you using a filter? That would NOT help! :)

Or just avoid shooting into the sun. Was the lens wet with water droplets?

Can you post a picture?
Click to expand...

No lens hood. I was using my kit lens 18-55mm which didn't come with one.

Using a UV filter.

Sun was directly to my left when I took the picture.

Lots of water spray around, but none on the lens.

Cheers for the reply.
 
pete.rush said:
What lens were you using..... some lenses are more prone to lens flare than others..... One way to reduce this is to use a lens hood, another is all to do with your positioning of the scene with respect to the sun, or just adjust the angle slightly.

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/lens-flare.htm

you might be able to remove it in photoshop etc
http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=25549
Click to expand...


Cheers for the reply, just reading up on the links. :thumbs:
 
I think you've found the problem then - get a lens hood and get rid of the filter! :)
 
awp said:
I think you've found the problem then - get a lens hood and get rid of the filter! :)
Click to expand...

Thanks for that.

I was hoping to learn a bit about why it happened. Why did it only happen at the base of the waterfall and none of my other pictures that i've ever taken with this camera have been affected by it.
 
awp said:
I think you've found the problem then - get a lens hood and get rid of the filter! :)
Click to expand...

Stop offering faulty advice please. There's no reason to take the filter off...

Flare isn't 'caused' by filters any more than it's caused by migrating wildebeeste...

A lens hood will help reduce flare...
 
I know you're a fan of filters and I'm not but I think that's open to debate Rob. An extra piece of glass in front of the lens can cause the light to bounce around in all sorts of ways and in certain circumstances produce flair. At least it's worth trying some shots without to see if in this instance it would have made a difference.
 
awp said:
I know you're a fan of filters and I'm not but I think that's open to debate Rob. An extra piece of glass in front of the lens can cause the light to bounce around in all sorts of ways and in certain circumstances produce flair. At least it's worth trying some shots without to see if in this instance it would have made a difference.
Click to expand...

This is true, but it does depend on the quality of the filter, I know my cokin ones like to produce a bit of flair when I am shooting towards the sun, but that only happens with the wide angle...

Could it have been the light refracting through the waterfall?
 
Arkady said:
Flare isn't 'caused' by filters any more than it's caused by migrating wildebeeste...
Click to expand...

Whilst flare isn't caused by filter per se (mostly by light bouncing ;)), having filters on especially bad ones can contribute to that. When I used Sigma 10-20mm the flare appeared really easily with filter on - just shoot anything with the light source in (and not necessarily sun - all night shots with street lights had terrible flare if the street light was closer to the edge of the frame). And that was with not such a bad filter (Marumi CPL). Taking the filter off improved things dramatically.

Hood will help and is effectively the ultimate solution (not for all the cases though - photographing at night with streetlights in frame it will be useless if you want the light source in the frame). However, the ones that supplied with the lenses are quite often rubbish. If OP shoots a lot of landscapes, I'd say an investing in something like Lee universal hood would be a good idea.
 
Without looking at his images, there's no way we can make the call for certain...
Under the conditions he describes in daylight with sun to one side, the presence of a screw-on filter is unlikely to have any adverse effect.
A square cokin-type filter, maybe, but I've never liked plastic filters...

Whereas the lack of a lens-hood under those conditions is very likely to have been the cause.
 
Filters do cause flare, sometimes, we all know that. More often than migrating wildebeest.

And lens hoods can reduce it, but I don't think it will help much in this case. The kit lens hood is a very shallow thing, as it must be to be clear of vignetting at the wide end. It will do no harm and offers a useful bit of protection, but is unlikely to do much for the flare, especially as it appears to be coming from within the image area.

Need to see a pic to give any meaningful advice.
 
Thanks for all the replies lads.

I'm going to buy a lens hood for the 18-55 and see how that goes.

The only time i've ever had any lens flare out of all the 4500 shots i've taken was at the bottom of that waterfall.

The sun was really bright and looking back over the pictures I think a hood would have made the difference.

Here's the only pic I have left. (retrieved it from recycle bin)

20100411_52.jpg
 
That's classic flare right enough, made worse by the filter.

The sun is only just out of shot so it's a moot point whether a lens hood would have cut it out. The problem with lens hoods on zooms is that they can only ever be optimum at the shortest focal length so at anything longer than that they become increasingly less effective. You would probably be better off shading the lens with your hand in that situation, just as you would shade your eyes.

This is what filters do in flare-prone situations, especially cheap ones - see post #22 http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=212297
 
Richard, I'm going to stab you...
With a shard of cheap filter-glass...:lol:
 
Totally agree with Hoppy, when shooting close to the sun ensure direct sunlight does not strike the lens, it's easy to see this with the camera on a tripod. Folding rubber lenshood can be useful on a zoom in this situation.
All filters increase flare when shooting into the sun, even Hoya pro-1 MC ones. I shoot natural portraits almost directly into the evening sun usually with only long grass or whatever in the way , and I take the filter off for that shot.

John www.phototuition.net
 
A cheap option is to have a look when you are setting the shot up to see if the sun is striking the front of the lens and, if it is, hold your hand up tp cast a shadow over your lens.

Works in some cases.
 
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