Several years ago (maybe 2009…??) I took my very first photography workshop right here in Greenville, SC.  I knew one other person going and I met several others – one of whom became a good friend and one of our own wedding photographers!  It was a workshop with Getz Creative at their studio and then outside at a really cool train car.  If you haven’t seen TJ & Michelle’s work, you MUST check them out.  The word Creative isn’t in their business name for nothing!  They taught us a lot about lighting that day and even showed us some amazing Photoshop skills.  But to be honest, I think I came away in a daze.  I was so new to what I was doing that it was hard to soak things in.  And I know they would have answered ANY questions I had but I don’t think I even knew what to ask!  But it was a good “first workshop” because it was local, it was with people I would be collaborating and working with in the future, and it was with people who were open and willing to share what they’d learned along the way.

And I want to be like that – open and willing to share what I’ve learned along the way.  There are so many new photographers out there and while a lot of people cringe at this (I used to be one of them…), I don’t anymore.  And the reason is that this job?  It’s the BEST JOB EVER!  And almost anyone that picks up a camera and takes a few pictures will inevitably start to understand why it’s so amazing.  So, instead of keeping all of my “secrets” close and locked up, I want to share what I know!  Just like so many photographers have been so willing to share with me along the way.  Some have been in the form of workshops that I’ve paid to go to, but others have been free bits of information from blogs, websites, or groups on Facebook.  And if any of you reading this blog EVER have any questions, please ask!!  I’d love to turn those questions into blog posts to help others out there too!

So… sun flares.  I don’t even know if TJ would remember that he told us this the day of that workshop.  But to get sun flares in a photo (like in the one below) where it looks like the suns you used to draw with a yellow crayon in preschool, is actually pretty easy.  If you’re shooting on manual, the first thing you need to adjust is your aperture.  Crank it up to anywhere from 10 to 14 (these higher numbers let less light into your camera).  From there, you adjust your ISO and shutter speed to let in the rest of the light your sensor will need so that it’s not JUST getting the light from the sun.  Maybe you just want to see the sun amongst dark or silhouetted objects, but if you want to see the other surroundings, your camera will need extra light coming in.  You’ll see the settings to my photo below, but those will vary depending on the time of day and even the location/surroundings of what you’re trying to photograph.

ISO 640, f14, 1/250 sec
(I was also using my 14-24mm lens and it was at 14mm for this photo)

In LightRoom, I also adjusted the shadows, contrast and exposure just a bit.  I even warmed it up to give it back some color because it was SO blue straight out of my camera.  This photo was taken at 8:45am in the middle of this week and I normally don’t have my ISO that high for that time of morning, but since my aperture was set to 14 and less light was coming in due to that, I had to get my light elsewhere – hence the higher ISO and slower shutter speed.

I know this is all super technical and I probably did a horrible job explaining most of it… but if you have questions, leave them in the comments and I’ll answer them there too!

Happy Friday!