I will be using Lightroom and Photoshop in this example, but the principals can be transferred to any other good editing platform. Thankfully, there is an easy fix to the problem that I’m going to show you today. The reality is that most lenses will flare to some degree, even the most expensive lenses that proclaim to have a host of expensive optical coatings to combat the problem. In fact, Luminar from Skylum Software has a wonderful flare filter that I have demonstrated before. This would allow us to start with a clean slate, and simply add flare in post-production if we thought it would improve the ambience of the photo.

The ideal for most people would be for lenses to not flare at all.

Sometimes you’ll have a lens that usually produces good looking or at least acceptable flare, but then you’ll find that if you place the sun at just the right (or wrong) angle, the flare suddenly becomes nasty enough to ruin a shot. Not all lenses produce good looking lens flare, and not all lenses render flare in the same way at all angles. Sometimes lens flare can be beautiful and intentional, but the way that the flare is rendered in your photo is a combination of the lens characteristics and the angle of the sun in your composition.

Sun flare brush photoshop