Sunset over Tsilivi, Zakynthos, Greece

[JLK]

Taken on my recent holiday to Zakynthos, we went up to Balcony Hotel for a lovely meal and my oh my the sunset was gorgeous. I do hope I did it some justice.

Does the flare make the image better, or ruin it? When taking pictures of sunsets while the sun is still there, is there any way to avoid the flare from the sun?



Here is a link to my set of sunsets too: Sunsets. - a set on Flickr

EXIF -

Camera - Canon EOS 450D
Exposure - 0.002 sec (1/500)
Aperture - f/9.0
Focal Length - 125 mm
ISO Speed - 125
Flash - Off, Did not fire

[wanderella]

beautiful....i'm almost with you on the balcony having dinner.....i hope you continued shooting until the sun was gone....i like the sun flare at this point because that is what you would be seeing....not sure how to 'correct' this....but also not sure if i would want to.....my fix would be to keep shooting until the sun was gone and there was no light left.......beautiful....

[JLK]

Originally Posted by wanderella

beautiful....i'm almost with you on the balcony having dinner.....i hope you continued shooting until the sun was gone....i like the sun flare at this point because that is what you would be seeing....not sure how to 'correct' this....but also not sure if i would want to.....my fix would be to keep shooting until the sun was gone and there was no light left.......beautiful....

Thank you, yes I preferred the sun flare but my mum really doesn't like it and says it ruins the photo yet I believe it adds so much to the pictures. Of course I carried on shooting, until the starters arrived

[irieness]

This is a great picture, I don't have anything to critique on it.

I like the sun-flare, too bad your mum thinks otherwise. In case for the future if you want less sun-flares, well, you mostly will get it most of the time when you direct your camera straight at the sun. However, sometimes dust particles on your lens can create a couple of lens-flares. But it looks like you don't have problems with this. Another recommendation is a lens hood, but that works much better if the sun is to the side of the frame, and has no effect if you point dead on to the sun. Do you by any chance use a UV/haze filter?

[JLK]

Originally Posted by irieness

Do you by any chance use a UV/haze filter?

No, but was considering buying one before jetting off to Greece but I don't have enough money to purchase any extras yet. I'm skint! Does it just reduce the UV rays entering the lens?