Tutorial: “Capturing Sun Flare”

Special Note from Angie & Amy:

Due to our upcoming Sun Flare photo challenge during the week of November 23rd, we asked Boybarian Dad to write a tutorial giving hints and techniques for capturing sun flare. We know the week of Thanksgiving is going to be a busy one for most of you, but guess what?! You are not going to want to miss out on this challenge…because the one and only Becker is going to be our judge that week!! Woo-hoo!


So, be sure to read Boybarian Dad’s tutorial and then get yourself outside to begin capturing your own beautiful sun flare photo to submit for that week’s challenge...your photo needs to have sun flare and a face in it. :)

Written by: Boybarian Dad from Boybarian Photo

Do you want to learn how to get sun flare in your pictures like this?


Sun flare has become very popular in today’s photography. It used to be that if you had some flare in your pictures, it was classified as a poor image (you got the exposure wrong). Nowadays, photographers are trying to get glare in a picture. One method is artificially with a photoshop action. Some of these are free downloads and others cost a little coin. However, they don’t always look just right.

The other method would be to capture the flare with the camera. This is the easiest and most cost effective approach. The other bonus is you don’t have to own a photo editing program. This method saves time so this is the route I always follow. So the enquiring minds want to know how it’s done. It’s literally as easy as slicing bread with a Wustof knife!


Here are the secrets:
1. You must have a Nikon. If you want try these secrets with a Canon, your entire image will turn out white.

2. This might seem silly, but shooting on a sunny day is kind of crucial.

3. It’s much easier to get the flare when the sun is at a low angle behind your subject (try mid morning or late afternoon).

Alright did you think I was serious about only using a Nikon? I wish that was the case but it’s not. I don’t think Angie or Amy would run this tutorial if that was the case. But trust me...you will look very cool with a Nikon around your neck shooting sun flare.

4. Get your subject between the sun and your camera (create that line of site). This is nothing more than creating a straight line with the sun, the focused subject and the camera. Sometimes you will need to move around until you see the flare.

5. The more expensive glass (lens) you have the more difficult it can be to get sun flare. Try your kit lens, they work really well for shooting flare.

6. Remove your lens hood (at least until you get the hang of it). This will give you more of the potential to capture that sun ray. Once you are a sun flare pro, have fun with the lens hood. I always shoot with a lens hood to protect my lens. Sometimes I will cheat a bit and actually catch the sun flare with the tip of the lens hood.

7. Do not shoot wide open. The more the aperture is open, the more the detail will be lost from the flare. You still might get some flare, but it won’t be as defined. What do I mean by wide open? If your lens can open up to a f1.4, that is wide open. The lens is letting in more light than it would at f22. I tend to go for somewhere in between when I shoot flares (still try to properly expose your subject).




The real secret in shooting sun flares is to move around until you see it. Don’t be afraid get on your knees or climb up on something. Shooting flares can be fun, play around with your settings and try different things to get different looks, see what you come up with.

Boybarian Dad is an I ♥ Faces contributor, our resident “funny man” and (obviously) a huge fan of Nikon cameras. We’ve decided we like him and will keep him despite that terrible flaw. :)

Angie & Amy
I ♥ Faces Co-Founders
(And the two "GO TEAM CANON!!!!!!!" girls)