Mesa Arch

Jacobovs

Sunrise at Mesa Arch. Any tips on reducing some of the flares?

Jacobovs

one more

Jacobovs wrote: »

Sunrise at Mesa Arch. Any tips on reducing some of the flared?

Any feedback on this one?

David_S85

I don't mind the flares. The first pic looks too bright. The second appears more controlled. That, and there's more background scenery to be seen through the arch.

Cornflake

The only thoughts I have about reducing the flares came from reading Marc Muench's book, and they work. First, don't use any filters. They exacerbate the problem. Second, take a shot where you hold your finger or something over the sun, covering as little else as possible. That shot will have better contrast and few flares. It will also have a finger in the frame, of course, but you can blend the good parts of that image into the result.

Stumblebum

Cornflake wrote: »

The only thoughts I have about reducing the flares came from reading Marc Muench's book, and they work. First, don't use any filters. They exacerbate the problem. Second, take a shot where you hold your finger or something over the sun, covering as little else as possible. That shot will have better contrast and few flares. It will also have a finger in the frame, of course, but you can blend the good parts of that image into the result.

Great info!! Thanks for sharing! Trying to find something that deflects it, similar effect as finger, except without it, also kind of works! Effects comp slightly....

zoomer

Looks like you were a little late to the party for best light.
You could have covered more of the sun with the arch just let a sliver peek out.
As is increase clarity and will reduce it a bit...play with contrast... not much to be done to reduce this much flare in processing.

kdog

I think the larger problem with the first one is that it's overexposed. There's just too much blown out. I think zoomer had the right idea that having less exposed sun area would have produced a more crisp star with less flare. The second one is better, but it's really flat. Maybe try increasing the contrast on it by playing with levels and/or curves. I played around with raising the black point as well as moving the midpoint right and it really looked a lot better to my eye.

Jacobovs

David_S85 wrote: »

I don't mind the flares. The first pic looks too bright. The second appears more controlled. That, and there's more background scenery to be seen through the arch.

Thanks for the tips. I will certainly try them next time

Jacobovs

zoomer wrote: »

Looks like you were a little late to the party for best light.
You could have covered more of the sun with the arch just let a sliver peek out.
As is increase clarity and will reduce it a bit...play with contrast... not much to be done to reduce this much flare in processing.

Thanks. I appreciate the advice. I will try the clarity and contrast to see if I like it better.

Jacobovs

kdog wrote: »

I think the larger problem with the first one is that it's overexposed. There's just too much blown out. I think zoomer had the right idea that having less exposed sun area would have produced a more crisp star with less flare. The second one is better, but it's really flat. Maybe try increasing the contrast on it by playing with levels and/or curves. I played around with raising the black point as well as moving the midpoint right and it really looked a lot better to my eye.

Thanks for the help. I'm going to try that.