How to get a starshaped sun

[Angelsong]

I did have to post process the levels a little, as the sky came out dark, but it was really fun to try this. I had no idea that using a smaller aperture would produce this effect.

I did try this first with a lens hood, but didn't like the effect I was getting, so I took it off.

Thanks for the tip.

[jameel]

Very good capture Alex and thanks for sharing the tip, much appreciated

[Alex168]

Angel that is a great exmaple thanks for sharing it!

Everyone is welcome

[tuxcomputers]

This shot was not intentional, I was just following the plane in continuous mode, it flew near the sun and I got this image:

[Alex168]

Originally Posted by tuxcomputers

This shot was not intentional, I was just following the plane in continuous mode, it flew near the sun and I got this image:

Nice capture i like it, goes to show the effect as well

[budman]

Hi

I did this by accident a few times, and never really knew what caused it to occur. They were great accidents too. Thanks for sharing, because now I know how to make it work.

I think it may also depend on the angle of the lens to the sun, may produce different starring lengths.



There are a few more in this gallery - http://banjon.smugmug.com/gallery/4136844_Nr3QB


One question I have is how do you shoot the sun as a disc and not over expose. I try to expose the scene, but others often always say the sun is blown out. The only thing I can think of doing is bracketing, but the bracketing only does -/+2 steps (3 shots would give me a 4 step range). I'd have to do it manually, but I don't understand why - we dont have equipment to see the detail of the sun, so why bother.

I've had other shots, where no highlights were lost, yet some people will say you blew out an area, usually a white area, but under raw its not blown out. Maybe I have a different understanding of whats acceptable blow out. Any thoughts on that?


Thanks
Rich

[Alex168]

Originally Posted by budman

Hi



One question I have is how do you shoot the sun as a disc and not over expose. I try to expose the scene, but others often always say the sun is blown out. The only thing I can think of doing is bracketing, but the bracketing only does -/+2 steps (3 shots would give me a 4 step range). I'd have to do it manually, but I don't understand why - we dont have equipment to see the detail of the sun, so why bother.

I've had other shots, where no highlights were lost, yet some people will say you blew out an area, usually a white area, but under raw its not blown out. Maybe I have a different understanding of whats acceptable blow out. Any thoughts on that?


Thanks
Rich

Nice picture first of all!

Well its kinda of impossible to get a "correctly" exposed sun with the equipment that most of use here, and same goes for pro's. You need astronomical equipment for such things (like those photos you see in the science book etc) Now there are ways "to decrease" the exposure of an image and decrease the blown out highlights by either:

a)using a polarizing filter
b) shooting underexposed images to "bring back the exposure

[Alex168]

Originally Posted by budman

Hi



One question I have is how do you shoot the sun as a disc and not over expose. I try to expose the scene, but others often always say the sun is blown out. The only thing I can think of doing is bracketing, but the bracketing only does -/+2 steps (3 shots would give me a 4 step range). I'd have to do it manually, but I don't understand why - we dont have equipment to see the detail of the sun, so why bother.

I've had other shots, where no highlights were lost, yet some people will say you blew out an area, usually a white area, but under raw its not blown out. Maybe I have a different understanding of whats acceptable blow out. Any thoughts on that?


Thanks
Rich

Nice picture first of all!

Well its kinda of impossible to get a "correctly" exposed sun with the equipment that most of use here, and same goes for pro's. You need astronomical equipment for such things (like those photos you see in the science book etc) Now there are ways "to decrease" the exposure of an image and decrease the blown out highlights by either:

a)using a polarizing filter

b) shooting underexposed images to "bring back the exposure

c)one thing people dont think about is that monitors color/brightness etc were's and tares and just doesnt appear the same, i use a special calibration tool to adjust my screen. So i see on my screen and what i print out with my printer, and i take this into account when looking at images on the web, some people have NEVER heard about monitor calibration, but its very important, i often see photographs that are too dark or too bright, but then i think it has to be because their calibration is of!

did that come in handy somehow?

[CloudyDay]

Wow, what a great tip. I had never heard of that. I will have to go out and try it now. I've always wanted to know how to do that. By the way, I am just now checking out this thread. Thanks!!

[bonafide]

Just saw it here for the first time. Enjoyed the post cause I'm going to Florida next month and I will undoubtedly be taking some photos of the sun Thanks.