 Paul S. Fleming |
How to keep the sun round in my images Hi Everyone, Every time I try to shoot a shot of the sun in an image, it turns out horrible. I would like it to be round, and without flare droplets all through the photo. I shoot a Nikon D70. Any thoughts anyone? Thank you, "ps"
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W. |
Thoughts? When the sun is straight overhead, there is about 20 miles of air in between you and the sun, breaking the light. If the sun is low over the horizon, there is at least many hundreds of miles of air between you and it, breaking the light. 20 miles of air has a considerably different light breaking index than many hundreds of miles of air has. The effect is visible. 1) The sun looks almost three times the size it does when it's straight overhead. 2) The color changes to red. And 3) the shape changes from round a kind of broad bottomed oval. To your eyes it shimmers. But the camera freezes the shimmering. So if you want a perfectly round sun low over the horizon, you will probably have to fake it in Photoshop. Because reality simply isn't like that.
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John P. Sandstedt |
First off - the sun, just like the moon and Earth aren't necessarily round. Second - if you point your camera directly at the sun, with all its elements and filters, why are you suprised that there's flare? It's an optical reality. With a subject a bright as the sun, you should be shooting at fairly fast shutter speeds. That's good, because if you shoot the moon and use too long an exposure, you'll get an oval looking moon because Earth is moving. Really !!! Unless you're prepared for the possibility of flare, don't shhot directly to the sun. Rather, offset the axis of the lens, meter off the bright sky nearby and shoot. For real dramatic sunsets, I like to load on a polarizer and directly shoot at the sun. Clouds go black and all kinds of great things happen. But, occasionally there's that flare - caused by all that darn glass.
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Margie Hurwich |
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W. |
That's a very nice broad bottomed oval you got there, Margie!
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
You flare droplets might be dust in your camera. It does appear squatty because of the angle of the atmosphere at the horizon, but it's relative the same size but appears larger because it's next to objects on the horizon. So it just appears much larger than over head. Same thing with the moon at the horizon and over head.
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Pete H |
Hydrogen Alpha Filter...or something with a passband centered on the Calcium line. ;) You'll get a nice round sun, solar prominences, flares and coronal discharges. I'm just kidding of course "ps" Pete
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Paul S. Fleming |
Well my not so bright question (pardon the pun) about getting a round sun image has been answered by a number of knowlwdgeable and thoughtful people. I thank them all, John S., W. Smith, Margie H., Gregory L. and Pete H. Had a beautiful sunset in my neck of the woods tonight and I captured it. Thank you all for taking the time to help me. Say it aint so Joe...Yes I'm posting another question about the sun. Thanks again fellow shooters. "ps"
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