Using sun flare for bohemian senior pictures

When I heard that Cayla wanted some bohemian senior pictures in a flowy dress, I immediately thought of Glenwood Gardens at sunset. There was a field there that I knew would be backlit at that hour, which would allow us to get some romantic sun flare.

Sun flare was traditionally felt to be a technical flaw in photography. When a light source appears in the viewfinder, the intense light reflects within the lens and the camera body, reducing the sharpness and color contrast of the image, and adding ghostly bright shapes, called artifacts. However, in the last several years, many photographers have embraced sun flare as an artistic effect, and there are even multiple digital filters that are used to try to recreate the effect on a sharp photo.

While I am not a big fan of the “sun flare” filter added after the fact, I can appreciate its appeal when obtained naturally. It is challenging to control, and there will always be some unpredictability, but it can be fun to experiment with.

In this image, I was able to hide the sun directly behind Cayla’s head. You can see contrast and color are fairly well preserved. I used a flash in a soft box so she wouldn’t be a silhouette.

I stepped back and used a different lens for this image. Because I wanted to shoot from a higher angle, I wasn’t able to hide the sun behind Cayla’s head, and the result was a dramatic sun flare. Even though the lens is properly focused, the image is soft because of the flare. While this may be a technical flaw, it gives Cayla a halo around her head and an ethereal look that I think suits her outfit and the setting.

If you like the look, you can help increase your chances of flare by using a clear filter on your lens, the cheaper the better, and even letting it get dirty. Most high quality lenses are coated to try to prevent flare, although they can’t do it entirely, as in this case, when I’m shooting directly toward the bright sun. On the other hand, if you are getting too much flare, you can use a lens hood (a black shade that comes with some lenses and many photographers leave permanently in the lens box) or take off the lens filter and clean your lens well. You can also reduce the amount of direct light by changing your angle or hiding the light source behind something.

This image is with the same lens, but shot from the low angle, where I again hid the sun behind Cayla. Contrast and sharpness have returned. Technically, this is the better photo, but which image do you prefer? They both speak differently to me.

Here is a photo with a more subtle amount of flare. The sun is lower, and trickling into the frame from the right, rather than coming from the middle of the image.

I changed my shooting angle to keep the sun out of the frame, and the flare disappeared. Again, there is good sharpness and color, but the mood is quite different.

In this photo, I had Cayla lie on the grass, and her dad held a sheer white diffuser to block the direct sun, so flare is absent. You can see how delicately her face is lit, compared to the sharp shadows we would have gotten otherwise. I had her close her eyes and relax her face, and fortunately, this time her dad didn’t make her laugh.