Over in our Lightroom Education & Lightroom Presets, we’ve started new weekly challenges to showcase the variety of talent of our photo communities. If you haven’t already joined our educational Facebook groups led by our SLR Lounge Educational Ambassadors, make sure you do so for a chance to get featured! Last week’s challenge was #FlareHappy where photographers were asked to submit their favorite sun flare images (real or artificial) to the group. Here were some of our favorites!
How to Shoot Sun Flare Images
To get a good sun flare while recreating golden hour, you should first place the subject between the camera and light in a position that does not cause the light to blow out details close to the face. Instead, in a portrait situation, you want the flare to barely bleed through to maintain highlight details next to the subject’s head. If you cover the flash entirely, the image will look more backlit than a representation of golden hour. For more insight on capturing golden hour portraits, see our guest post over at Adorama, which offers 8 golden hour photography tips for magical photos.
Rewind: 3 Tips On Creating Lens Flare with No Sun
How to Re-Create Golden Hour
You love the look of natural light, but it limits you to shooting at certain times of day and relying on mother nature. Let’s take away that limitation, because contrary to common misconception, flash CAN look like natural light. We dedicated an entire course on using your flash or strobes to create natural light effects and you can check it out here! The video above is one of our most-watched YouTube tutorials to date and it shows you how you can re-create golden hour if the sun has already set! Now that we’ve covered possible ways to photography sun flare or create it on your own, let’s take a look at some of the submissions for this feature challenge within our community:
Elizabeth Llyod – Website | Instagram
David Mendoza III – Website | Instagram
Pye Jirsa – Website | Instagram
Angie Nelson – Website | Instagram
Marlies Hartmann – Website | Instagram
Amber Henry – Website | Instagram
Jay Cassario – Website | Instagram
Timothy Eyrich – Website | Instagram
Jared Gant – Website | Instagram | Wedding Maps Profile
Trevor Dayley – Website | Instagram
If you haven’t already joined our educational Facebook groups led by our SLR Lounge Educational Ambassadors, make sure you do so for a chance to get featured! If you enjoyed this article be sure to check out our Re-creating Golden Hour Course in SLR Lounge Premium, along with our 30+ other ranging from shooting tips to A-Z post-production tutorials!
