am i getting it right

[Jo.T]

Hi all
finally working out my camera, i spent a couple of hours down the beach and this is one of my favourite shots.
Do i need to crop it to make it less centered and how do i reduce the sun spots but keep the sun burst.
any other help greatly appreciated
Cheers Jo

Nikon D40X
shutter speed 1/250 sec
F/14
ISO 100

[dcclark]

I really like the sunburst, with the nice and elegant silhouettes of the grasses in the foreground. The centered composition (with the semi-symmetric clouds) is actually rather pleasant.

I might try a slightly closer crop, since the left and right sides don't have as much of the grasses in them. It may look a bit more "full" in that way.

Unfortunately, shooting into the sun is how you get sunspots. I like the flore, and you could perhaps clone out some of the spots which you don't want.

[navcom]

If you have Photoshop or something similar, you can clone out the lens flare. Did you use your lens hood? Sometimes that can prevent flaring but it's still not a guarantee. Unfortunately lens flares are lens specific and each lens acts differently. It also depends on your surroundings and how all that light is bouncing around.

[Jo.T]

Originally Posted by navcom

Did you use your lens hood?

Thanks for that i dont have a lense hood but looking at getting one, will a uv filter help or will that stop the sun burst as well

Cheers Jo

[dcclark]

Originally Posted by Jo.T

Thanks for that i dont have a lense hood but looking at getting one, will a uv filter help or will that stop the sun burst as well

Nope. If anything, a UV filter will make the sunflare WORSE, because it's another layer of glass in between you and the sun!

[navcom]

I agree completely with dcclark. A UV filter really doesn't do much of anything. In some instances such as this, they hurt image quality and actually create more problems.

Some people use UV filters solely as a "lens protector". That's all fine but my experience has always been that a UV filter usually does more harm than good...and is the cause of strange things that happen with your images leaving you wondering "why did that happen??"...forgetting that you had a UV filter "permanently" attached to every lens. Been there...done that. I threw away the UV filters and many of my photography frustrations went with them. And I've never broke a lens in 25 years.

Why spend umteen thousand dollars on superior glass and then cover it with a cheaper piece that can ultimately degrade your image quality...never made sense to me. You bought the DSLR and the lens to take better pictures. Don't handicap it. Kind of like buying a Ferrari and then parking it in a garage for fear you might scratch it. But that is my personal opinion of course.

Ahhh...but I digress. Don't get me wrong. I use many lens filters. But they are designed to do something unique that the lens alone cannot do. A UV filter really doesn't do anything substantial and in the case of looking directly at the sun, can really cause havoc in some circumstances.