This afternoon I took a trip over to Lighthouse Park in West Vancouver to catch the sunset. I've been struggling for inspiration (and time!) a little this month, and this always seems to be a good place to go to get it back!
I first headed to a location down by the water which I'd scouted out on a previous trip, but at the time the tide had been too high for the shot I wanted. Unfortunately, this time the tide was too low -- at least I now know an approximate height to aim for on a future trip! Instead, I headed to Shore Pine Point at the south-west corner of the park, which I haven't previously visited.
Despite the beautiful sunset and relatively mild conditions, the point was deserted. For this shot, I wanted to capture one of the trees that the point is named after, so I set up to frame the tree reaching high overhead. Shooting into the sun made for a challenging shot, so I took advantage of a smaller tree, positioning myself so that the sunlight was partially blocked by it, with it still letting enough light through to get the lens starburst.
A bank of fog on the horizon blocked the last couple of minutes of sunshine, but allowed me to pack up a little earlier and get back to the car while it was still light enough to not trip over the tree roots on the Shore Pine Trail.
I'm a British software developer and photographer living in Vancouver, BC. I mainly photograph landscapes, cityscapes, night scenes, and water.
If you're interested in any...
Stunning composition and sun flare!I love how the touch of light in the top branches repeats the sun rays!Thanks for sharing the story behind this amazing image!FAV!
Another terrific shot, and so interesting to read your commentary. I love the way you've captured the sun just as it's about to dip beneath the horizon, and the starburst is just great. Fav.
i love the tree --------------i love trees as majestic as this -------but I must ask -is the burst of sun real or generated in a software program? how do you capture them?
@annied Thanks :) The starburst is neither real (i.e. it doesn't exist in front of the lens) nor generated in a software program -- it's an optical effect caused by the way light passes through small gaps, such as a lens with a narrow aperture setting.
Adjusting the aperture in a lens adjusts the size of the hole that light passes through. However, to make the aperture adjustable, the hole isn't perfectly round, but is instead made by a number of overlapping blades, as can be seen here: http://365project.org/abirkill/365/2012-08-29
The 'corner' where each of these blades meet is becomes small enough that light actually bends and spreads out as it passes through it, a concept known as diffraction. It's this effect which causes the starburst effect when photographing bright point light sources, such as the sun or street lights. You can see exactly the same effect by squinting at a bright light source -- the small gaps between your eyelashes will diffract the light and cause you to see a starburst effect, although as your eyelashes aren't geometrically arranged, the effect will be a bit more random!
As you stop the lens down (smaller aperture, larger f-number), the 'corners' between each of the blades becomes more acute, causing more diffraction, and making the points of the starburst appear longer. This shot, taken at f/16 to get the required depth of field, also resulted in a very strong starburst effect.
The number of points also tells you something about the lens used to take the photo. A lens with an even number of aperture blades will create starbursts with an even number of points (e.g., a lens with 8 blades will create 8-pointed starbursts). A lens with an odd number of aperture blades will create starbursts with twice the number of points (e.g. a lens with 7 blades will create 14-pointed starbursts). Accordingly, lenses with an odd number of blades are particularly desired for people who want to get this effect. For example, here's the effect with a lens that has 8 blades (8 points): http://365project.org/abirkill/365/2012-11-28
Once you start looking for it, you'll starbursts very frequently in movies and TV shows, particularly in night scenes, and you'll be able to start to work out what kind of lenses were used to film the scene!
Your composition is fantastic. Love the capture of th fog as well, and of course great starburst. A fav. Nice of you to share the background to the making of
@abirkill thank you so much for taking the time to explain -------I will re read ad try to get my head around it - I am not very technically adept haha but I get the gist of what you are saying
I took this image http://365project.org/annied/365/2014-01-23
just with my phone from dash of car - the only thing i knew was that I had to keep it as still as possible - I was pleased with the starbursts but really do want to understand it more - you have helped me on my way - thank you so much :)
Lovely starburst! Just been looking at my stats in detail (thank you for the Fav for Jarvis in his new coat) and glad I did....bringing my attention to your project. You have some great photos.....fav and follow from another Brit living in Canada! :-)
Adjusting the aperture in a lens adjusts the size of the hole that light passes through. However, to make the aperture adjustable, the hole isn't perfectly round, but is instead made by a number of overlapping blades, as can be seen here:
http://365project.org/abirkill/365/2012-08-29
The 'corner' where each of these blades meet is becomes small enough that light actually bends and spreads out as it passes through it, a concept known as diffraction. It's this effect which causes the starburst effect when photographing bright point light sources, such as the sun or street lights. You can see exactly the same effect by squinting at a bright light source -- the small gaps between your eyelashes will diffract the light and cause you to see a starburst effect, although as your eyelashes aren't geometrically arranged, the effect will be a bit more random!
As you stop the lens down (smaller aperture, larger f-number), the 'corners' between each of the blades becomes more acute, causing more diffraction, and making the points of the starburst appear longer. This shot, taken at f/16 to get the required depth of field, also resulted in a very strong starburst effect.
The number of points also tells you something about the lens used to take the photo. A lens with an even number of aperture blades will create starbursts with an even number of points (e.g., a lens with 8 blades will create 8-pointed starbursts). A lens with an odd number of aperture blades will create starbursts with twice the number of points (e.g. a lens with 7 blades will create 14-pointed starbursts). Accordingly, lenses with an odd number of blades are particularly desired for people who want to get this effect. For example, here's the effect with a lens that has 8 blades (8 points):
http://365project.org/abirkill/365/2012-11-28
Compared to a similar shot with 7 blades (14 points)
http://365project.org/abirkill/365/2012-11-17
Once you start looking for it, you'll starbursts very frequently in movies and TV shows, particularly in night scenes, and you'll be able to start to work out what kind of lenses were used to film the scene!
I took this image http://365project.org/annied/365/2014-01-23
just with my phone from dash of car - the only thing i knew was that I had to keep it as still as possible - I was pleased with the starbursts but really do want to understand it more - you have helped me on my way - thank you so much :)