Comments on: Shooting into the sun

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Mon, 28 Dec 2015 16:22:44 +0000

Thank you for this! I'm a novice with my Canon camera and my sun photos look awful. I'll definitely be checking out these settings to see if I can mimic them on my camera and also seeing what type of lens I have (I'm pretty sure it is whatever came with it so it is 5-6 years old).

By: Johan

Johan — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 06:41:40 +0000

One more piece of information you need to paint the full picture on sunstars: because aperture is set relative to focal length, a longer focal length means a physically larger opening at the same aperture setting. To make sunstars we need the aperture to be physically tiny. So to get a good sunstar, set a small aperture but also go as wide as you can (if you are zoomed in even at 50-60mm you will most likely be getting a big burned out blob instead of a lovely sunstar…).

Also do not underestimate how useful it will be to shoot these types of pictures in RAW, to then recover shadows/underexposed areas in your favorite RAW processor – which should be Lightroom 4.2 BTW… 🙂

By: Image Breakdown: Superman! - Action Photo School | Photography Tips

Image Breakdown: Superman! - Action Photo School | Photography Tips — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 15:27:49 +0000

[…] to compensate a bit with your ISO. Usually around ISO 640-800 will get the job done. Here's an article on how to get perfect sun stars.I didn't want the athlete to be in the center of the shot because that creates a less dynamic […]

By: Caleb Keiter

Caleb Keiter — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 03:21:17 +0000

I have been trying to achieve this effect as well and the problem I run into is similar to Zack’s. I like to have the background a little bit underexposed. This really brings out the sun star and it brings the focus to the athlete (I shoot long distance running races) as long as he or she is well lit. Even with a 580ex II on 1/1 power, I cannot seem to find a good balance between getting a good sun star and enough lighting on the athlete. The flash distance scale indicates the flash is only good for 1 foot of distance. Runners are varying distances from the flash and camera each time. Also, if I shoot in 1/1 power, I can get close to what I am looking for, however, the flash takes too long to recycle to be ready for the next runner.

Any additional thoughts? You can see some examples here:
http://www.sandiegorunner.com/photogalleries/2012lakehodges5k/content/IMG_6118_large.html Some are better than others.

Also, a heads up to other photogs trying this … MAKE SURE YOUR LENS IS CLEAN FIRST! Shooting into the sun with a small aperture really shows every little speck of dust on the front element. Lesson learned.

By: actionphotoschool

actionphotoschool — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 18:27:09 +0000

Hi Zack,

We are glad you found our website as well! As for the sun star picture, try raising your ISO more. It’s always seemed to work well for me around ISO 800 or so. It’s tough under certain conditions, with dirt the light is not reflected very well and it can be more difficult to star the sun while still having enough light on the athlete. Add flashes into the mix and that will work much better! You’ll definitely have to test to find the right balance with ambient. You can also open up the aperture a bit more, say f/13 and that will get a little more light in but the star won’t be quite as perfect.

As for your second question, you may want to post that in the forum as well since it’s less specific to the post. We will be more than happy to answer anything there! There’s a link on every page at the top.

I would say to go with the B1600, one is enough for most situations especially broad daylight, but 2 is always nice to have the extra option and create more 3-dimensional lighting. How quick of a recycle time will you need? You may want to check out the elinchrom lights if you need a faster time, but the bees seem to do really well for the price and in most situations.

By: Zack Cummings

Zack Cummings — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 21:45:16 +0000

Wow, thanks for the quick response. I am so glad I found your website. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. When I tried this, it was about 1pm and there wasn’t any clouds even close to the sun and I don’t remember any haze. I did try in manual and once I got even close to getting the star, the rest of the image was so dark I didn’t have any chance at seeing my subject without a flash and I couldn’t get that to look right either with a 580exii. Sorry, I know I must be missing something simple. I still have a lot to learn. I would appreciate any extra tips to try next time like wht is the best time of day?

I do have a different topic I want to ask about. I mainly shoot motocross and I spent the second moto this last weekend shooting with the canon 8-15 f4 and triggering a 580exii and a 430exii using the new PW mini and flex’s. I was looking at buying an Alien Bee 800 but I am not sure what power to get. Is this enough or do I need the 1600? Is one enough? Basically, what setup would you recommend? :). I am new to using off camera flash and such, but the main issue I ran into was recycle time. I shoot images of all the riders so i dont get much time between shots. Thanks again!

By: actionphotoschool

actionphotoschool — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 20:18:23 +0000

Hi Zack,
Was the sky hazy or were there any light clouds around the sun, and was it late in the day or early in the morning? This can drastically affect the photo and your sun will never star correctly if it has clouds over it at all, or haze in the sky. Also, you may just want to shoot in manual mode and test/adjust until it looks right. Hope that helps.

By: Zack Cummings

Zack Cummings — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 17:10:29 +0000

Not sure what I am doing wrong. I setup my 1D markiv at f16, iso 640 and put it in apertue mode. I was using my 24-70 f2.8 lens and a 8-15 f4 lens. The sun still showed up as a blown out spot. I had to drop down a couple of stops on exposure compensation before I could get anything close and then the entire image was almost black. What am I missing here? Thanks for any help you can give me.