PHOTOGRAPHY EFFECTS IN LENS (PART 7: EXPLOITING LENS ARTIFACTS – LENS FLARE AND FILM GRAIN)

September.07.2011 · Posted By - Paul

This will be a particularly short blog since I haven’t done too much photography with deliberately wanted lens flare or large amounts of film grain.  Still, I have done a little.

Lens flare occurs when bright lights (especially those from the sun) enter a lens and scatter in the lens system creating generally unwanted hazing, low contrast, and/or lens artifacts.  Usually lens artifacts are not wanted and can be minimized through the use of a lens hood or other type of shade.

Sometimes, lens flare is introduced deliberately since it can imply drama or at least a sense of realism due to the unedited look these artifacts imply.  Sometimes they just look cool. Sometimes they not worth the trouble of trying to remove in post-processing.

Here is an image of a sunset I took in Monument Valley showing a lens flare.  Personally I like the radiating spokes of light that the flare creates.  Without the flare the dramatic look of the sun peeking behind this butte would have been minimized:

monument_017

The following is a nice flare photo by Shane Moss:

flare

Lens flare can be added artificially in post-processing using any of a variety of programs.

Film grain represents an optical texture that appears randomly in film.  Technically, film grain doesn’t appear in digital cameras but image noise does.  Film grain and digital noise can exhibit much of the same look.  High ISO settings and low exposures,  among other things, can cause grain to increase.  Noise reduction programs can be used in post to eliminate some of this noise.  Sometimes film grain / digital noise an be counted on to improve a photograph.  It can create a dramatic or moody feel to an image.  If noise isn’t captured in camera, post-processing programs like Photoshop can add some.  Simply look for film grain filters.

The following image was taken at Halloween.  I realized that I would need to use a high ISO and I worried about the noise that would be generated.  Then I realized that the image content would benefit from the noise.

 skell

PHOTOGRAPHY EFFECTS IN LENS (PART 6: CATCHING MOVEMENT WITHOUT MOVING THE CAMERA)

August.26.2011 · Posted By - Paul

A few blogs back I talked about low shutter speed photography done by moving the camera while the shutter was open.  In this blog I show movement through images in which the camera remains stationary.

I enjoy taking photos of waterfalls using as low a shutter speed as possible.  Usually I’ll do this by setting my aperture as small as possible (f\22), my ISO as low as possible (100), and by adding a neutral density filter or polarizing filter to the …

PHOTOGRAPHY EFFECTS IN LENS (PART 5: USE EXTREME BLUR AND BOKEH TO ADVANTAGE)

August.08.2011 · Posted By - Paul

One way to draw attention to a subject is to utilize a low depth of field (DOF).  Shallow DOF allows a small amount of focus while casting everything else into blur.  Shallow DOF is usually accomplished by opening the aperture on your camera (low aperture numbers).  By utilizing low DOF you can often raise the quality of your photos significantly.

Here are two photos that show shallow DOF in operation.  The first image was taken at about f/4.0 and allowed …