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Archive 2014 · Mesa Arch (12/15/2013) & How To Question

  
 
Strid3r
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Mesa Arch (12/15/2013) & How To Question


I finally made it out to the Moab area after years of seeing all of the beautiful work published here on what feels like a daily basis. I'm still sorting through all of my images, but I did start my PP with my attempt at Mesa Arch. I was out there a little before Christmas (12/15) and it had snowed pretty heavily about a week before we got there. It was cold, but beautifully clear.



Question:
I wanted to attempt an image with a sunburst, but I had a hell of a time controlling flare. I used a Canon 50D and Canon 10-22 (no filters) and stepped down to f/22. When I tried for sunburst shots I had long streaks of flare stretching across the image (example below). Is this just a characteristic of the lens? Is there something in particular I should do when trying to capture a sunburst?



Thanks for the help.
Mike



Jan 04, 2014 at 09:45 PM
ben egbert
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Mesa Arch (12/15/2013) & How To Question


What I do at Mesa Arch for sunburst is to try a trick from a Charles Muench seminar. He said take the shot with 1/16 of the sun showing with the rest behind something. In this case the lower part of the arch.

This happens fast and as it approaches, I use burst mode because I also want to bracket. I have one in the first page of "The best 3 landscape images of 2013" post. As it turned out, I was able to use one shot.

I still had a bit of flare to remove, but of all the shots I took from the first sliver of sun over the La Sals, to the last one before it disappeared behind the arch, only the last burst was free of most flare.

Another trick is to put you finger over the lens in front of the sun and expose for the main scene, then do one exposed for the sun and blend them. But the 1/16 method works for me.

By the way, the streaks are what makes a sunburst, so you want to keep them, the blobs in your image are the unwanted part of flare. Generally there are even larger ones.


Edited on Jan 04, 2014 at 10:10 PM · View previous versions



Jan 04, 2014 at 10:09 PM
DonH
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Mesa Arch (12/15/2013) & How To Question


For flare, I discovered many years ago that multiple exposures may help you.

1. Set your tripod-mounted camera to Manual and get a good exposure.
2. Take a second exposure but carefully block the source of the light causing the flare. Use your hand, finger, hat but only block as small an area as possible.
3. In post processing, place the layer that you blocked above your other exposure. Then with a layer mask, paint out the flare.

Give it a try, it works great.



Jan 04, 2014 at 10:10 PM
JimFox
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Mesa Arch (12/15/2013) & How To Question


Hey Mike,

A very nice shot of Mesa Arch here. Good work with it.

Both Ben and Don have made great comments about sunstars and how to control them. But back to the lens aspect, you will find some lenses better than others in producing nice sunstars and flare. One thing that typically really helps is to make sure you have no filters on the lens, the more filters the more chances for not just the cool streaks from the sun, but also you will get the round flares as the light bounces between the filter glass and then lens. One other thing to notice is the placement of the sun. The more towards the center of a lens, the less unwanted flaring occurs. Now that is not always able to do, most often we want the sun on a side of the frame, but it's something to keep in mind as you work the sun.

Jim



Jan 04, 2014 at 10:23 PM
Scott Kroeker
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Mesa Arch (12/15/2013) & How To Question


Great photo Mike! I like it!

As for the lens flare question, my 10-22 looks the same. I actually like it though. I agree about painting in the flare from a second exposure.



Jan 05, 2014 at 01:55 AM
dbehrens
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Mesa Arch (12/15/2013) & How To Question


Nice pic. As for the lens - in the Canon lineup this kind of flare would be very typical for a non-L grade lens. Depending on how large and obstructive the flare you could try LR spot removal (Q) or PS content aware to remove it.
Dave



Jan 05, 2014 at 10:03 AM
ckcarr
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Mesa Arch (12/15/2013) & How To Question


Very nice Mesa Arch. Great color and sharpness (without going overboard). I like how you lined up the La Sals with the arc in the arch.


Jan 05, 2014 at 11:35 AM
Strid3r
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Mesa Arch (12/15/2013) & How To Question


Ben/Don/Jim/Scott/Dave -
Thank you for the suggestions to control the flare. The long streaks of flare, unfortunately, run across the entire image making removal without a clean shot virtually impossible, the circular flare is easy enough to remove. It sounds like there are a few things I can try to improve next time:

1). Position the sun more centrally in the frame
2). Try the 1/16 method
3). Try the "blocking out the light-source" method proposed by Ben and Don.
4). Get some L-Glass to avoid the streak pattern of my 10-22

Time for a trip out of the city to give these a try (at least 1-3 for now). Thanks for the tips guys.

Mike



Jan 05, 2014 at 12:05 PM
Strid3r
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Mesa Arch (12/15/2013) & How To Question


ckcarr wrote:
Very nice Mesa Arch. Great color and sharpness (without going overboard). I like how you lined up the La Sals with the arc in the arch.


Thanks, Craig. I actually pulled back the color a little bit compared with a raw image from the camera. Maybe it's the 50D sensor, maybe it's just a by product of the spot metering, but the oranges and reds in the raw file were overwhelming.

Mike



Jan 05, 2014 at 12:07 PM
ckcarr
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Mesa Arch (12/15/2013) & How To Question


They normally will be in Canyonlands sandstone shots.
You have to be aware of that.



Jan 05, 2014 at 12:21 PM





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