This past week I was talking with a colleague friend of mine, and the subject of lens flares came up, and it occurred to me that it could be an interesting and quick subject for my blog.

Ok a bit of the technical stuff ahead…

A lens is a grouping of very nicely polished pieces of glass that projects an image on a camera sensor.  The light reflects on the nice polished surfaces of each glass element, this is called a “Flare” depending on the lens and the aperture you are set at; it might be round or hexagonal bleached or a lighter spot on your photograph. Sometimes they have different colors, some lenses have special coating, filter, BLA BLA BLA.. but the reality is that light reflecting on the glass elements is unavoidable when you take photos toward a very bright light, like the sun, sport venue lights, etc.

Done with the technical stuff!!

The question that I’m asked often is how do I get rid of the lens flare.   The easiest answer is “Do not shoot towards the light source”,  if possible move the subject or the camera angle to avoid shooting at the sun.  Sometimes it can’t be helped.  You can’t get a cool looking sunset without the sun on it, so in those instances I say “embrace the flare”, and use it as part of your photo composition, so it looks cool, or give it that dreamy look.