I wanted to see whether the theory of stopping down a camera and aiming at the sun would produce a starburst. Now, I don't know if this is good or bad, but this is what I got. I've upped the exposure a bit and added some sharpening from the raw file. It's resized just so I don't take up too much space.
The camera had a UV filter on and no lens hood.
Comments invited (good or bad as I have no preconceived ideas).
Alan
sun /star burst must be a contributing factor to an image, in this case i wouldnt of even noticed it if it wasnt the theme of the post.
Technically, starbursts are diffraction artifacts caused by non-circular apertures.
Number and shape of aperture blades define the characteristics of the starburst produced by a lens.
I myself much prefer perfectly round aperture openings, which result in a smooth halo without any spikes. Most lenses do this at their lowest f-stop setting. The farther you stop down, the more prominent the spikes will get.
Things may get a bit more complicated as diffraction (and thus starburst effects) can occur apart from the lens aperture, e.g. caused by the edges of an mechanical shutter, or tree leaves which partially block the sun, etc.
Well, that’s it, then!
David
Good one, Alan. Looks like you captured a single point of sunlight and thereby clearly distinct rays coming out.
Unlike this poor attempt with multiple points, over-exposure and lots of lens flare 😟
The sd2 has a f/2.8 lens, you closed aperture by just one stop to f/4. You might get somewhat better defined spikes by closing aperture all the way down to f/11(afaik).
