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Shooting in bright, overhead sunlight?

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 alexm198 28 Jul 2015
I've been taking some photos out in the Alps and often find myself shooting into direct sunlight. The shots I take always seem to end up with the sun as a huge white blob with no real definition, as the overexposure kind of bleeds into the surrounding area.

I've noticed on quite a few of Jon Griffith's shots (e.g. http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0008/2132/products/MG_6150_1024x1024.jpg?v... that he manages to get the sun pretty well defined, with a sort of ray effect, which looks far better.

Any tips on how to achieve this?
 Dan Arkle 28 Jul 2015
In reply to alexm198:

narrow apertures create better sunstars, it does depend on your lens and sensor - especially how many blades your aperture has.
 AdrianC 28 Jul 2015
In reply to alexm198:

You get it by cranking your aperture down - f16 or smaller. It really helps if you can partially obscure some of the sun's disc with some object on your frame so only part of it is peeping into your lens.
OP alexm198 29 Jul 2015
In reply to Dan Arkle:

Ah of course, that seems logical, given that the 'sunstar' is just a diffraction pattern.

Thanks for your help!
 Dark-Cloud 30 Jul 2015
In reply to AdrianC:
Would he have not cranked the exposure comp down too, looks like it from the colour/shade of the sky, either that or a filter ?
Post edited at 08:44
 AdrianC 30 Jul 2015
In reply to Dark-Cloud:

Hmmm - I'm guessing but I doubt it - look at the shadows - there's quite a bit of detail there. If I'd taken a similar shot and was editing it I'd bring the highlights right down and the shadows right up so not shifting the exposure but making the shot look more like what your eye would see with it's better dynamic range than the camera.
 James Rushforth Global Crag Moderator 30 Jul 2015
 Dark-Cloud 30 Jul 2015
In reply to James Rushforth:

OK, just looked at the EXIF data, its been through photoshop but f13, 1/320sec, -0.3step
 James Rushforth Global Crag Moderator 30 Jul 2015
In reply to Dark-Cloud:

Sounds about right. As Dan says the amount of points you get on a sunstar is dependant on the amount of diaphragm blades in your lens (generally the more expensive ones have more).

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