Lens flare is the unwanted or deliberate brightening, haze and glowing shapes that appear when a strong light source sends light bouncing around inside your lens. You can reduce it with simple habits like using a hood and changing your angle, or you can lean into it to add warmth and atmosphere.
What Causes It
Light from the sun or a lamp reflects between glass surfaces and the inner walls of the lens barrel and ends up on the sensor along with the image itself. Two main looks result. Veiling flare lowers contrast and gives a milky haze across the picture. Ghosting shows as repeated shapes, often in the form of the aperture blades, lined up across the frame toward the light source.
Lenses with many elements, dirty or fingerprinted glass and stacked filters all make flare more likely. Coatings on modern lenses help a great deal, but they do not remove it fully.
How to Prevent It
- Attach the lens hood, and make sure it matches the lens and is seated properly.
- Clean the front and rear elements with a blower and a soft cloth made for lenses.
- Remove extra filters, especially thin protective ones, when shooting toward a bright light.
- Move a few steps so the light source sits outside the frame, or hide it behind a tree, building or your subject.
- Shade the lens with your hand or a hat just out of the frame, then check that it does not appear in the picture.
How to Use It Creatively
- Place the sun partly behind your subject for a soft glow around the edges.
- Peek the sun around an object and stop down to f/11 or smaller for a sunburst effect, as a rough guide.
- Shoot slightly toward the light with the hood off for a hazy, low contrast, dreamy look.
- Try different angles in small movements, since flare shapes shift quickly as the light moves across the frame.
Some lenses are known for pleasing flare characters, including older designs and anamorphic lenses with horizontal streaks. Others produce harsher shapes, so it is worth testing your own lens.
Cameras with a bright viewfinder and quick, quiet autofocus make waiting easier, but the habit of watching matters more than any specific model. Beginners also benefit from limiting themselves to a single focal length, such as a 35mm or 50mm equivalent, for a few weeks so that framing becomes second nature.
When flare is a problem in video, the same rules apply, and a matte box or a flag held on a stand can shade the lens without being in the frame.
FAQ
Can I add flare in editing?
Yes, many programs have overlays and brushes for it, but real flare responds to the scene and often looks more natural.
Does flare damage the camera?
Brief flare is not harmful, though pointing a lens straight at the sun for long periods is a bad habit, so keep those moments short.
The Short Version
Lens flare comes from bright light scattering inside the lens. Use a hood, clean glass and careful framing to prevent it, or place the light on purpose to add glow, sunbursts and mood.
