Portrait with lens flare in the afternoon

[wrdgirl]

Hi! It's my first time posting on the "Critique" forum, nice to meet you!

Anyways I am attaching a photo that I took today in the afternoon. I was trying to create the "lens flare" look. I post-processed it slightly using LR3 (gave it more warmth and brightness, not too bright to make it wash out though).

Is it too out of focus? Because of the sun I wasn't able focus properly. How about where the sun is positioned?

Any feedback is greatly appreciated!!

EXIF info:
Canon EOS Rebel T1i
Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM
f/2.8
1/500 secs
ISO-100
Exposure bias 0-step
Focal length 34 mm
Max aperture 3
Metering mode Partial
Subject distance 1 m
No flash

[ajax_andy]

I dont think the image is sharp enough, and I think the sun is too prominent in the pic. It seems to eat up a massive chunk of his face and becomes too much of a focal point for the pic.

It's a hard skill to master so keep trying, but this one misses the mark I'm afraid

[AshNZ]

Have to agree with ajax_andy, this one misses the mark for me too. The person is out of focus and the sun is way too distracting. I'm not sure where else you could have positioned the sun because I've never tried anything like this before.You could try with only showing about 1/10 of the sun or less. Personally I'd almost be tempted to add the lens flare in Photoshop.

[graciousness]

Your really don't want the sun directly next to the subject within the frame. You want the sun backlighting the subject but not too close to the subject. You will struggle with balancing light and focus on your subject.

You want the sun out of the frame or hiding behind leaves or clouds, anything so long as it's not directly visible in the frame.

It does take a little bit of practice, something I am still dabbling with (getting a little better). What I would suggest is you put your camera on P mode, take a shot, take a note of the settings, then put your camera on manual mode and set on the same settings. Guaranteed that the light will be too bright, so cut down the shutter speed and keep doing it until you get it right. You do need to keep in mind the focus/sharpness on your subject as you still need to keep your subject in focus whilst doing this. Otherwise, it becomes pointless.

Hopefully, Steve (Nirengsawa) comes by and gives you advice as he is good with this technique. Otherwise, plenty of google and youtube tips you'll find on this.

Cheers,
G.-

[Niresangwa]

Originally Posted by graciousness

Hopefully, Steve (Nirengsawa) comes by and gives you advice as he is good with this technique. Otherwise, plenty of google and youtube tips you'll find on this.

Thanks Grace...

I think there are two points to make here.

Firstly, as is, (with no explanation) it's kind of a cool shot. It has an abstract feel to it that I really enjoy. It encompasses two techniques I really enjoy, misfocus and overt use of flare. The two points that would make this really solid would be to crop into the tree trunk on the right (get rid of the strip of sky) to move the subject closer to the right of the frame and I'd take a little off the bottom to balance that. I'd also remove that glob of green flare on his left shoulder. I'd probably convert to a black and white also...misfocused shots in my experience work a little better that way as it more clearly defines the tonal gradient without the distraction of colour...

Now, all of the above is completely true, but essentially meaningless because you didnt intend to misfocus, which to me is the redeeming quality, and that's my second point.

In this case as I said, I like the shot with a little more attention paid to the composition and presentation, but it is what it is and that's a mistake. If you're going to rest your laurels on a shot that relies on technical mistakes, you have to have made them intentionally...(or lie through your teeth that you intended it

As for how to effectively use the flare while keeping your subject in focus, the trick is to lock your focus the recompose once it is attained. Quite easy to do if you use the subjects head to block it, then shift to where you want it to be.

Unless you're using light in some manner, you have to be careful in how you expose for the subject and how you balance the sunlight.. without flash or some other kind of fill, it can be quite difficult when you have to open up for the subject and not get completely blown away by the sun right by them..

often times it's much easier to have the sun out of frame and find the flare that way..that will also solve your focusing issue, incidentally, which leads me to my biggest hint for incorporating sunflare that people seem to quickly forget..

you can plan your flare.. what you see through the viewfinder is what you'll get. it's not the crapshoot people think it is... so position your flare the way you would position any other element.. its a trick working on not only the angle to the subject but the oppositional flare, but you can get the hang of it...

just some thoughts.

[wrdgirl]

First of all, thank you so much for the feedback!

I truly enjoy the responses and am learning a lot just by reading them.

I think "hiding" the sun glare a bit more and position it further from the subject will improve it more. It was more "blown out" than I expected. After looking at the picture again the green flare is a bit distracting.

I do agree though that lens flare can be planned. I noticed that when I was taking a shot at night. There was a lot of shadows and some streetlights to highlight some areas. When looking at the viewfinder I noticed the lens flare moves as I position the camera at different angles to the streetlight. It was a bit harder to see that with the sun though since it is much brighter and blinding than a streetlight.

Ironically, I am actually learning to shoot out-of-focus photos but this one in particular wasn't one of my practice shots lol

Anyways thanks again for the ideas and different point-of-views!