Lens Flare -- Destroying my Nightscapes.

SimplyShane

I'll keep the talking to a minimum.

Image One:: Taken with my 18-55mm kit lens. Lightened up a great deal in Adobe RAW to show the full extent of the flaring. It completely ruins the shot.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bengford/4997287894/meta/

Image Two:: Taken with my 55-250 zoom lens. I lightened this up as well yet there is hardly any flare here at all...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bengford/4997288980/meta/

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Why did this occur? Would a lens hood solve this issue? (Both my lenses do not have any filters or hoods attached. Mainly because I am extremely poor.)

How do I go about correcting this?

(Thanks for your time! I look forward to your suggestions.)

racer

A lens hood would definantly help! The biggest problem is the lights are to bright, and your to close to them. I think your going to have a hard time taking a photo like that no matter what! For starters, I would try to get way further back from the light sorce, and try different compositions to find if you can get a image with minimal flare. If you cant get any further back, your only choice might be to eliminate them from your composition. I would have tryed to take a shot of the multiple colored light reflections to the right (like in photo 2), as they seem way more interesting, and are a good distance away.

eoren1

I don't know that a lens hood would have helped much for this particular shot. It does not appear that the flares are emanating from off camera light sources which is the point of the hood. More expensive lenses (such as the 17-55 version) have special glass elements that act to minimize flare. That being said, with a strong enough light source (ie the sun) directly in your frame, you are bound to get some flares (though not as many as this image)

ahoustons10

don't worry!
First off, I think both images look fine. I actually like the lens flares.

However, try a lens hood and also try taking off any filters that you might have on! This is actually an important one!

These pictures are very similar to some pier shots I took the other day and placed in a tutorial here:

http://www.slrlounge.com/technique-using-long-exposures-to-achieve-glassy-water

Have a great night!

Subanu

Yes ^^, If it's a must have shot, take off the filter. I can usually see the lens flare before taking a shot, and I just reposition the camera at a differant angle. I find this mostly when taking sunset shots....

SimplyShane

Subanu wrote: »

Yes ^^, If it's a must have shot, take off the filter. I can usually see the lens flare before taking a shot, and I just reposition the camera at a differant angle. I find this mostly when taking sunset shots....

I had no filters attached. Also, I tried another angle but it did not fix the problem. I WAS quite close to the light source in the picture, so that probably is the source of all my problems...

SimplyShane

ahoustons10 wrote: »

First off, I think both images look fine. I actually like the lens flares.

However, try a lens hood and also try taking off any filters that you might have on! This is actually an important one!

These pictures are very similar to some pier shots I took the other day and placed in a tutorial here:

http://www.slrlounge.com/technique-using-long-exposures-to-achieve-glassy-water

Have a great night!

First, thank you for the compliment. However, I do hope you realize that both of these were intentionally edited in a way that makes them appear overly bright and washed out. I did this in order that the viewer may see the lens flaring more easily.

In other words:: These look like crap. :-P

I think both DO have potential though. However, I can't lie: The lens flare bothers me a great deal. I think it looks sloppy and unprofessional.

(Oh, and by the way, I had no filters attached. I guess a lens hood may be the only answer?)

SimplyShane

racer wrote: »

A lens hood would definantly help! The biggest problem is the lights are to bright, and your to close to them. I think your going to have a hard time taking a photo like that no matter what! For starters, I would try to get way further back from the light sorce, and try different compositions to find if you can get a image with minimal flare. If you cant get any further back, your only choice might be to eliminate them from your composition. I would have tryed to take a shot of the multiple colored light reflections to the right (like in photo 2), as they seem way more interesting, and are a good distance away.

Thanks for the comment.

I DID take many pictures of the lights in the distance. However, I still like my composition in the first picture.

Maybe I just have to clone the heck out of this?? If a lens hood wouldn't help, I'm left with no other option...

SimplyShane

eoren1 wrote: »

I don't know that a lens hood would have helped much for this particular shot. It does not appear that the flares are emanating from off camera light sources which is the point of the hood. More expensive lenses (such as the 17-55 version) have special glass elements that act to minimize flare. That being said, with a strong enough light source (ie the sun) directly in your frame, you are bound to get some flares (though not as many as this image)

So there's nothing I can do? I like the composition quite a bit.

It frustrates me a little that camera technology may be unable to handle this...

Art Scott

Can we see the original versions of both, please????

No filters at all ???

How are you creating the star effects on all light sources???

SimplyShane

Art Scott wrote: »

Can we see the original versions of both, please????

No filters at all ???

How are you creating the star effects on all light sources???

That's easy as pie...

Apertures set at F/8 or above will do that for you naturally. The higher the aperture, the greater the effect.

racer

SimplyShane wrote: »

It frustrates me a little that camera technology may be unable to handle this...

It is actually caused by the lens, light hitting the lens at a angle, or bouncing, reflecting around the lens elements. Lens technology will never be able to handle that, simply because of the properties of glass.
Here is a little more about flare
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lens_flare
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffraction

Sam

Shane,

If you post a link to the original RAW file I will have a go at it.

Sam

ps: I hate Flicker

SimplyShane

racer wrote: »

It is actually caused by the lens, light hitting the lens at a angle, or bouncing, reflecting around the lens elements. Lens technology will never be able to handle that, simply because of the properties of glass.
Here is a little more about flare
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lens_flare
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffraction

Would a lens hood be of any worth in this particular shot? Again, I admit, I was somewhat close to the light-sources in the photo...

I had to be. (Unless I preferred drowning in the Missouri River...)

racer

SimplyShane wrote: »

Would a lens hood be of any worth in this particular shot? Again, I admit, I was somewhat close to the light-sources in the photo...

I had to be. (Unless I preferred drowning in the Missouri River...)

Would a lens hood help that exact shot, no, probably not at all. Where the lens hood would have helped you, is in photos like the second one, when your not aiming directly at the light and want to avoid it hitting the lens from the side. Lens hoods help to stop stray light from hitting the lens at a angle, causing flare that way, but you were aiming directly at the light, so no a lens hood wouldnt have solved your problem.
The only way that I know of, is if you went further back from the lights, or shot a different composition. Looking at the shot, to me it looks like you have plenty of room to move around there, but you could also try to get the same shot, with a different composition, maybe from a different location.
Anyway, a lens hood is definantly something your going to want to get, even if it wouldnt have been much of a help in that shot, it will definantly help other times.
If you are short on money and dont want to pay for the Canon lens hoods, adorama.com (and many other sites) have knockoff hoods for cheap. The hood for the 18-55 is very small and because of that, I am not sure if it helps that much, but the hood for the 55-250 sticks off the lens a couple inches, and is definantly worth getting