To much glare....

[long jetty]

i was wondering how to get rid of all the glare the sun causes, as i have seen many shot where the sun basically looks like a moon. here is a photo i took and as u can see the glare is pretty bad so i was wondering how to get rid of it: http://img451.imageshack.us/img451/8218/cimg02471ri.th.jpg (http://img451.imageshack.us/my.php?image=cimg02471ri.jpg)

[Mark_Cohran]

If you're shooting almost straight into the sun, there isn't much that can help. A lens hood will drastically cut down flare if the sun is high enough, and a polarizer can help to cut reflections/glare off non-metallic surfaces, but there's a limit to what you can do if you're shooting directly into the sun.

Mark

[nevilleb]

Avoid shooting subjects which are backlit - except sunsets, or those where you want to create a romantic atmosphere. As Mark pointed out, little you can do otherwise.

nevilleb

[webejamn]

not to hijack the thread but i have this problem when i was taking a picture of the sun set outside of denver i got this problem where the moutain is not as dark as the rest of the forground, how do i not get this,

[Mark_Cohran]

not to hijack the thread but i have this problem when i was taking a picture of the sun set outside of denver i got this problem where the moutain is not as dark as the rest of the forground, how do i not get this,

Once again, you're shooting directly into the sun, and therefore you're going to get flare. From looking at your photo above, there's not much you can do about this given the angle at which you're shooting.

Flare occurs when very bright light (non-image forming light) enters the lens. The more the angle of the light corresponds with the lens axis, the worse the flare will be. At each glass/air or glass/glass interface the some of the light will be reflected (instead of refracted) and you'll get degradation of the image. Most lenses contain multi-coatings which serve to reduce flare, but even modern lenses can't overcome it entirely. In fact, modern compound lenses with their many internal elements actually increase the problem.

Zooms are more susceptible to lens flare than primes simply because they contain more internal lens elements (more surfaces to reflect). Ways to reduce flare are:

1. Don't shoot directly toward a bright light source.
2. Use a lens hood whenever possible.
3. Use a prime instead of a zoom.
4. If using a filter, make sure its a good quality, multi-coated type.

Hope that helps,

Mark

[Emenresu]

Im not 100% sure bnecause ive never used one, but a graduated nutral density filter might reduce it.

[Curtis N]

Take off the UV/haze filter if you have one. They can do nasty things when a bright light source is in the frame.

[webejamn]

i didnt think about taking off the uv filter

[Jon]

A filter wasn't the problem here, anyhow. You're seeing "bleed" of the sun's light over the mountain, and on the sensor. If you'd been able to look directly at it long enough and closely enough, you would have seen the same apparent thing with your eyes on the original scene.

[Curtis N]

Looking at the original image again, and taking a wild guess, I wonder if the sun was reflecting off the water, just below the frame, causing flare.