Are light flares/circles normal? how do I correct/avoid?

[scott_lenz]

I own a Canon XTi with a Canon EF-S 17-85mm IS lens with a uv filter and no hood. I'm just learning to

shoot in manual mode and experienced some light flares or circles yesterday. It was a sunny day and

seemed to happen when I was shooting into the sun.

 

I would post an example but it looks like you have to be a paid subscriber to do that.

 

Anyway, any advise would be appreciated.

 

Thanks,

 

Scott

[colin carron]

It is called 'flare' and often happens when the lens is pointed towards a strong light source like the sun. It is caused by imternal reflections inside the lens. It helps if you use a lens hood and also if the lens is clean.

[m_barbu1]

Well, without an example it's not possible to accurately tell if it's happening inside the lens, or because of the filter. Try taking the filter off and see if it's still there. If so, then it's inside the lens. Shooting at less wide focal lengths will help minimize it, to an extent.

[ken munn]

If the sun is in the picture, flare is pretty well inevitable. If it's just out of the picture a lens

hood or careful shading of the lens with your hand, hat, etc will prevent flare. You're

trying to prevent the sun shining directly onto the front glass element of the lens.

 

If the sun has to be in the picture, how good/bad the flare is depends a) on the design of

the lens - something you have no control over, and b) how clean you've kept your lens and

filter.

 

If you know you're going to get flare with a particular shot, you can either try to use it

creatively, or position it over a lighter area of the image where it won't show up so badly,

and might even be almost invisible. It's possible to do some remedial work in PhotoShop

(or similar) to remove or tone down flare, but it may not be worth it.

[PuppyDigs]

I use my hand or hat to block out the sun. Works better than a lens hood.

[jp_and_ap_the_glass_eye]

Use a hood. Always. I had a real keeper shot at my moms church carnival that was ruined by flare. Darn.

.

Also, I kind of like shooting towards the sun because of the rim lighting effect. And I've seen a number of shots where the flare adds to the photo.

[alan_myers]

Next time try it with and without the filter, to see the difference. Many of today's lenses have pretty sophisticated lens coatings and anti-reflective design inside, that can help a lot. A filter, particularly a cheaper one that's not got particularly good multi-coating, often makes matters worse when shooting into the sun.

 

With a zoom like that, it's always challenging to make a really effective hood for it. It has to accomodate the wide end, at the expense of very adequate coverage throughout. So, even if you get one (highly recommended), it will not resolve all problems, in all situations.

 

Ken is right, there are Photoshop (etc.) techniques for reducing flare and aperture artifacts.

 

Interestingly, there are also softwares available now that deliberately introduce these aberrations back into images where the lens did "too good" a job preventing them. I guess we're so accustomed to seeing some of the effects, a photo might look a little strange if they're missing! There's a brief article in one of the recent magazines, perhaps Popular Photography?, about one of these softwares.

[savagesax]

Sometimes it may help to take off the UV filter and throw on some sort of polarizer. They come is 2 styles. I prefer the circular one myself and I own both styles. These filters are useful in reducing flair/glare but if you shoot directly into the sun, nothing will really help.

 

Secondly, filters of all types vary in quality. You can spend $10 to about $150 for one. Some are plastic some are glass. If you need advice on what type to get feel free to email me.

[m_barbu1]

If he's shooting wide, and the sun is in the shot, it's likely that the sky is too. A polarizer may make for unpleasant looking skies at wide angles.