Sun Stars and How to Capture Them!
Learning how to capture the starring effect with your camera is one of the best fun (and most satisfying) tricks around. We’ve compiled our top 3 tips for getting the best sun star effect. Remember that because your sun star is related to your aperture, each of your lenses will have different shaped stars. So try them all out and see which one you like best.
1. Close your aperture (higher f.stop) – this closes the blades of your aperture and gives the light something to bleed through. This is what creates your starring effect.
2. If you’re shooting the sun, you want to make sure that the you’re not shooting directly at it (it’s bad for both your lens AND your eyes…). Make sure that your sun (or other strong light source) is peeking around from behind an object. And remember, your star will still be symmetrical. The exception to this is that the sun is softer in the morning and evening, so you can try capturing the full sun in detail in those golden hours.
3. Try underexposing a little (or a lot!). By underexposing, you are creating greater contrast between your lights (star) and your darks (background), so you’ll have a better defined star.
So there you have it! Three simple tips to getting your very own star power. Remember that you can also create the starring effect at night – with things like street lamps, so be sure to try your different lenses out then too to see which star you like best! Our favourite star is with our wide angle – Nikon 18-35mm f3.5 – 4.5 shot at about f18. Our Nikon 50mm f1.8 also has a great one.
And like always – have fun practicing, and let us know how it turns out.
Want more practice with the help of a fantastically qualified, good looking, and hilarious instructor? Join our Digital II – Action & Composition course in ANY of our amazing cities. Yes that includes Calgary, Burlington, Oakville, Mississauga, Ottawa, Edmonton AND Kelowna! We can’t wait to see you there.
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