So lazy in fact that these photos aren’t even by me, they are by some super-talented film photographers over on flickr – do check out their links below because they are awesome!
I chose these images because they feel very Sundayish…
1. Roses, 2. it’s been some time…, 3. Untitled, 4. Untitled, 5. quiet days at home, 6. at the pub, 7. Life is hard when you have a lamp as a tail, 8. Veggie Sunday roast, 9. Master and Commander
Your camera lens is actually made up of lots of different lenses stacked together and if a very bright light source (especially the sun) gets into the camera at just the right angle then it will bounce around and reflect off all those surfaces creating a pattern on your image.
Lomo LC-A and 35mm film
If you have a lens with lots of elements inside it you are much more prone to lens flare but it effects all camera, large and small, new and old.
Modern lenses, especially the pricier ones are all engineered to try and stop this from happening – they even have special coatings to help eliminate anything remotely flarey.
Canon 5D MK II and 50mm compact macro lens – the flariest of all my lenses
One of the first things I do with a new camera or lens is to shoot a few photos into the sun, just to see how it copes – what effect it gives.
Sorry to go all ‘health and safety’ on you, but PLEASE BE CAREFUL SHOOTING OR LOOKING DIRECTLY INTO THE SUN.
The plastic lens of the Vivitar Ultra Wide and Slim (with 35mm film) gives a very unusual lens flare
One thing that will make a big difference to avoiding lens flare is to shade the sun from angling itself into your lens – a lens hood is ideal for this although you can just use your hand or hold a newspaper out of shot between you and the lens – it would do the same job.
I’ve found a great website called lenshoods.co.uk – they have templates for most lenses so you can print off and make your own lens hoods – what a great idea! No excuse for lens flare now – unless you want it, of course.
Pentax K1000 and 35mm film
There’s something about the pattens and washed out nature of lens flare that gives such a special quality to so many images. I think some of this is down it it mainly happening when the sun is low in the sky (the golden hour) and the light is always more magical then anyway. Also, lens technology before the 80s was less advanced than it is now and so it can instantly give a photo a retro feel.
Choose a photo that looks like it should naturally have lens flare, so one with a sun shining and lots of natural light.
The lens flare tool in Photoshop is destructive and will permanently alter you image, so start by creating a duplicate layer of your chosen image and work on this.
In this example I moved the light source to the top-left, set the brightness to 177% and selected the 70-300mm lens.
Before
After
There’s no doubt that some photos are enhanced beautifully by allowing the lens to flare naturally in the sunlight – like any effect though it can be over-done, at least knowing where and when it’s likely to happen gives us some control over it.
How do you feel about lens flare?
Some weeks are definitely longer than others, aren’t they. Here we are again though (I was on the slow train, for sure), it’s Friday evening and the weekend starts here (yay)!
If you fancy doing a photography e-course led by a hugely talented, passionate and creative soul, then you’re in luck – Susannah Conway is running Photo Meditations: Infusing Your Images with Soul and the registration opens on Saturday at 4pm (BST) so be quick! However big or small your camera I know you will love this wonderful introduction to the exciting world of telling your own story with photography.
I’m going to have to start my (long) list for Father Christmas soon as I have spotted the calendar I want for 2012 – look at this, it’s amazing, a tear off Polaroid calendar, a picture every day. Want!
In case you were on another planet and weren’t around to get your ear bent by me; I have been spreading my wings a little recently and contributing to some other websites! Namely Lomography, The Guardian and Digital Photography School. I have more on the horizon too, but don’t worry, you won’t escape hearing about them! Probably best to make sure you’re following me on Twitter and/or facebook just in case though ;)
Everyone loves a photo of a flower, don’t they – I bet you’ve not seen may like this though – ingenious!
Have a lovely, lovely weekend – I hope you get to spend it just the way you want to.
I’m so confused! It’s autumn, non?
Well, sometimes it is but today it seems to be summer again – today I saw a butterfly, two bumble bees and I think possibly a leprechaun (or it might have been a frog).
I hope nature doesn’t get too confused by this freakish weather (not like me who wore a JUMPER to work)! I hope we get to see everyone again come springtime – tuck yourselves away little frogs, and fly away birdies – I know it feels like there’s still time to play but it could snap into winter any day now!
These Polaroids demonstrate very well just how freakishly hot and sunny it was during our trip to the rain capital of the world aka The Lake District.
This is the Ullwater Steamer, which easn’t actually a steamer but a 100-year-old motor yacht – all the same, it was a very pleasant way to spend the afternoon – I got a little sun-burnt!
They aren’t brilliant photos – it became really hazy in the heat. I guess that’s bound to happen with so much moisture about.
All taken with my Polaroid SX-70 and 600 film with ND filter
“How do I get the background to go all blurry?” I remember that being the first question I asked my photography teacher at art college, years ago. It was either that or “Where’s the vending machine? I need a coffee!”
This is also a question I am asked a lot by friends, family and readers of this website (the blurry background one, not the coffee one) so I thought I would have a go at explaining it.
Canon 5D MKII + 70-300mm f/4-5.6 lens | 1/400th sec at f/5.6
What we are talking about here is ‘depth of field’ – shallow depth of field to be precise, and this is controlled mainly by the aperture (f/stop) of your cameras lens.
Canon 40D + 85mm f/1.8 lens | 1/400th sec at f/1.8
Taking photos with a blurred background – dSLR (or film SLR) camera:
Taking photos with a blurred background – compact / point and shoot camera:
There, that’s really all you need to know – although if you are using an SLR camera, getting to grips with a bit more detail will make the whole process even easier to master.
The wider you open the aperture the faster your shutter has to open and close, but there’s a limit to how fast it can shoot. I’ve made you a diagram! This should help explain things:
If you are in dazzling midday sun and you try and use a wide open (small numbered) aperture then your poor little camera-sensor (or film emulsion) won’t be able to cope and your photo will be over exposed.
You have a couple of options to overcome this – the first is to experiment with not quite so open apertures – depending on the situation you can sill get lovely blurry backgrounds at f/5.6 and even higher.
The second option is to use a filter – an ND (neutral density) filter looks like grey tinted glass, it sits on your lens and allows you to have your aperture open wider than the natural light would normally allow – there a really great article here that explains them in more depth).
Try to get quite close to the subject you want in focus and also ensure that your subject is as far away as they can be from the background. For instance, if you are photographing somebody leaning against a brick wall, the bricks are likely stay in sharp focus too – you need your subject to step forwards from the wall, I would suggest at least 10ft, that way the bricks should fuzz away into blurriness and your subject will look nice and sharp.
Obviously you want to make sure you have the correct thing in focus when you take your photo – when you are using VERY shallow depth of field you may need to be millimeter perfect. You may find it useful to adjust your camera setting so it focuses only on one spot (centre-weighted focussing) normally it would work out the focus by looking at many points. I will often switch to manual focus in these situations. If you don’t trust your eyes you might want to refocus and re-shoot a few times to make sure you’ve nailed your shot.
Canon 40D + 55-250mm f/4-5.6 lens | 1/1600th sec at f/5.6
Shooting with the aperture wide open, letting in lots of light is:
Oh, and one last thing, the smallest f/stop number you will be able to use is shown as part of the lenses name – for example a 17-40mm f/4 lens will only ever be able to be dialled down to f/4.
Canon 5DMKII + 50mm f/1.4 lens | 1/3200th sec at f/2.8
There’s a LOT more we could talk about here, it really is one of the fundamentals of photography – I think this is as much as a basic introduction needs to cover though, we’ll save the rest for later!
There was a little shop in Hawkeshead, Cumbria and these boys were set outside. They’re brand new; made in China.
At school we were encouraged to call them golli-dollies (this was after the ritual burning of Enid Blyton and her Noddy books featuring golliwogs. Maybe it was just the books – I was young and impressionable).
Personally, I think if you have an old doll that you have had for years then that’s one thing, but it’s the 21st century now and there are so many clever and exciting toy and doll creators out there, so why hark back to something that might upset your customers? That’s not very kind or nice and I am sure we can come up with something better. Or am I being too sensitive?
[Photo taken with Polaroid SX-70 and 600 edgecut film + ND filter]
OK, so when I visited the Lake District last month there weren’t exactly any daffodils, but there were plenty of lonely clouds, vales and hills so three out of four ain’t bad.
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
I took quite a few Polaroids whilst I was in the Lake District – it was only a little over a week ago but it almost seems like a dream now. I still have rolls of film waiting to be developed (I’ve been sick and housebound) so I’m pleased I have these to tide me over (plus the lovely digital ones, of course).
This first one is of a fast-moving stream – we stopped and drank water from it in our cupped hands. I’ve never done that before (such a city girl) it tasted amazing!
I love how the muted and painterly colours of Polaroid 600 film has captured the essence of the mountainous, watery landscape so well.
It occurred to me I’m not used to composing images where I have to look upwards – I’m more used to the flat horizon of the sea.
It was eerie too to think those lakes went as deep as their neighbouring hills went high – the water was inky blue/black and shone like a mirror most of the time, creating wonderful light. Still and very mysterious.
All taken with my Polaroid SX-70 using 600 film and ND filter