How to create an explosion effect in a photo?

When shooting in the sun, you can get the so-called "explosion" effect. This effect occurs when the lens is aimed at a bright light source, such as the sun or a street lamp at night. Due to the phenomenon of reflection, we regard the light source as a bright spot with light in the picture. In this photography tutorial, learn how to get this beautiful effect and use it to enhance photos.

Canon 5DII, Canon 16-35mm f/2.8 lens, ISO 100, F/1,1/20s.

First, use a narrow aperture to produce an explosion effect.

If you shoot with the aperture open, you won't get the explosion effect, because the aperture is round in the open position. An optical phenomenon called diffraction can produce an explosive effect. When the light passes through the narrow aperture opening, it will be diffracted (or scattered) by the lens aperture blade. When the aperture is closed, the petals will gather together to form a polygon and burst out from the light source. The narrower the aperture, the more obvious the effect.

Usually a narrow aperture, such as f/ 1 1, f/ 16 or f/22, is needed to produce beautiful beams. The narrower the aperture, the better the effect. Try to avoid apertures such as f/ 16 or f/22. Diffraction effect will produce beautiful light, but when the aperture is extremely closed, this optical effect will also reduce the overall clarity of the image. Therefore, when choosing the aperture value, it is necessary to find a suitable balance between the clear and bright starburst effect and the minimum unsharp effect because of the same diffraction.

Using high-quality lenses, I found that f/ 1 1 can usually give me enough starburst effect to maximize the overall image clarity, although sometimes the aperture is slightly enlarged to enlarge the starburst.

Canon 5DII, Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 lens, Canon adapter, ISO 400, f/1,1/30 seconds.

Second, reduce glare by partially blocking sunlight.

When the sun is in the picture, it will get stray flares, which usually destroy the picture. In this case, the sun can be partially hidden to reduce the intensity (for example, using tree trunks or flying clouds). It is also important to find a suitable balance here. It is necessary to block the sunlight and reduce the illumination, leaving enough space to produce the explosion effect.

Canon 5DIII, Longteng 15-30mm f/2.8 lens, ISO 100, f/ 14,1/25 seconds.

If you can't block some sunlight, please shoot near the horizon.

Sometimes you can't block part of the sunlight, for example, you need to take pictures without any obstacles in the sky. In this case, you should expect glare on the lens, so glare will also appear in the photos. However, when the sun is low to the horizon, smoke and atmospheric particles will reduce its intensity, which should help reduce glare and stray light. However, too thick atmospheric smog will reduce or offset the starburst effect.

Canon 5DIII, Canon 1 1-24mm f/4 lens, ISO 100, f/ 16, 1/250 seconds, taking multiple photos with the same settings, but increasing the depth of field with different focal lengths, is called focus superposition.

4. Not all lenses can bear sunlight equally.

Some lenses can handle glare better than others. Generally speaking, more expensive lenses have better glare effect than cheaper lenses, while new lenses have better performance than old lenses without the advantages of modern lens coating technology. Although many modern zoom lenses perform well, "fixed" (fixed focal length) lenses usually handle glare better than zooming.

In addition, generally speaking, compared with low-quality amateur lenses, high-quality "professional" lenses will produce clearer and better starburst effects. Even in expensive shots, the quality and nature of starburst effects are significantly different.

The quality and nature of explosion effect depend on the number and shape of diaphragm blades. A lens with even lobes will produce a star with the same number of beams (for example, an 8-lobe lens will produce a star with 8 beams). However, a lens with an odd number of blades in the aperture generates two beams for each blade (for example, a lens with seven blades generates a star shape of 14 beams).

Canon 5DIII, Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 lens, ISO 100, f/ 14, 1/6 seconds.

5. Keep the lens clean and remove the filter.

Spots, dust or oil stains in front of the lens will increase glare and stray light, and ultraviolet rays or other types of filters will also increase. If you encounter halo problems when shooting in the sun, please remove all filters and make sure the lens is clean.

Canon 5DIII, Canon 16-35mm f/2.8 II lens, ISO 100, f/ 13,1/60 seconds.

6. Don't just shoot the sun.

The explosion effect is not limited to landscape photography and shooting in the sun. As long as there is a bright light source, this effect can be created. The moon in the night shot is very suitable for stellar flares. When shooting the city landscape at night, we are looking for ways to turn on bright street lamps to creatively use the explosion effect.

Canon 5DIII, Longteng 15-30mm f/2.8 lens, ISO 200, f/1,20s.