This sun burst was real
Have you ever looked at a photo with the most perfect lens flare? Lens flare that hit just the right spot effortlessly? Lens flare that made you remove your lens hood and then feel like a total failure? There’s a good chance it’s not even real. This is probably a real no-no. The angel on my shoulder says I shouldn’t be sharing these secrets. But you know I don’t care about rules or keeping industry secrets so here goes. 3 ways I achieve faux lens flare, sun bursts and light leaks:
Photoshop using built-in filter – Photoshop has a built in filter for producing sun bursts with flare. It has little control for where the flare actually falls (not much different than real life, eh?) but I combat that with a duplicate layer. See the video below:
How to Make Faux Lens Flare & Subursts with PS Filters from Elizabeth Halford {dot} com on Vimeo.
Photoshop with texture layers – Using a faux flare layer from Kaleidoscope, I achieved some flare which can be moved around and played with with greater flexibility and control than the first method mentioned. Video below:
How to create faux lens flare with texture layers from Elizabeth Halford {dot} com on Vimeo.
Lightroom using graduated filter – This method is more of a light leak than a lens flare but I think it fits in nicely as a way for you LR enthusiasts to add some light where you want it. I should mention here that soon, One Willow will be coming out with their flawless Light Leak set for all sorts of fabulous leakage. Look forward to that! Video below:
How I use LR graduated filters to fake light leak from Elizabeth Halford {dot} com on Vimeo.
