ID:meituyxj
What is the Starlight Effect?
The astral effect is a special phenomenon of light diffraction, which is formed after diffraction and scattering of light during propagation. As far as the concept of photography is concerned, under normal circumstances, we usually try to avoid the occurrence of light diffraction, but the starlight effect is very cool and beautiful, and sometimes, we will deliberately pursue it, it all depends on the photographer's idea.
The shape of the starlight effect is related to the design of the blades of the aperture, some can form a beautiful six-pointed star, while others can only form a round halo star.
To form a beautiful star, it must be a regular polygonal aperture blade, for example: a regular octagon, etc., the more positive the shape, the more consistent the length of the star.
▲photo by William Bout
The number of stars under different lenses is different, which is mainly related to the number of diaphragm blades. The number of stars of odd leaves is the number of leaves x2; The starlight of the even-numbered blades is theoretically still x2, but the rays will overlap, so the result is still the same as the number of aperture blades.
▲photo by Filip Mroz
How to shoot the "starlight effect"?
Method 1:
The simplest and most brutal way is to buy a starlight mirror. The star mirror is capable of dazzling every bright point of light in the photo. The brighter the point of light, the more pronounced the starlight effect will be. Point light sources such as street lights, car lights, water reflections, and candlelight can produce a very noticeable starlight effect.
The starlight effect is created by etching a mesh of thin lines on the surface of a transparent filter. Depending on the number of thin lines and the pattern formed by the thin lines, star-like flashes of light will be produced with different effects. Some produce a rice shape, while others are six-star or cross-star. Rotating the starlight mirror can also change the direction of the optical axis in the starlight pattern.
Special reminder: The starlight mirror can indeed bring dazzling effects, and if used well, it can set off the atmosphere of the picture and increase the appeal of the picture. But don't use it indiscriminately, abuse it, if you don't use it well, it will be messy, and if you use it too much, it will give people the same feeling, and there is no novelty. This method is recommended to play with occasionally, and should never be used as a panacea.
Method 2:
Without borrowing the help of a starlight mirror, it's also very simple, just use a small aperture. The size of the star is affected by the size of the aperture used to shoot it: the smaller the aperture, the more pronounced the starlight effect, and vice versa, the smaller the star and the shorter the lines. Generally speaking, at night, the aperture is at f/8 to shoot the stars, of course, I personally recommend using a smaller aperture, such as between f/11~f/22.
▲photo by Lee Aik Soon
One thing to note is that choosing a small, strong point light source is more likely to form a dazzling star. Reflections like candles, city street lamps, and water can all form stars.
Friendly reminder: As we all know, shooting night scenes often requires a long exposure, and shooting the starlight effect also requires a smaller aperture, which means that the exposure time needs to be more. At this time, a tripod is a must! If you don't have a tripod, do everything you can to find the right spot to support the camera and avoid vibrations.
How do you capture the starlight of the sun?
▲photo by Larisa Birta
Because the sun is far and small from the ground, the light is very strong, so the stars formed are also more dazzling. However, the stronger the light, the greater the damage to the image sensor when the light passes through the lens, so safety measures should be improved before shooting and metering.
1. Don't just take pictures of the stars, be careful of hurting your eyes and camera
Seeing other people's shots of the stars is dazzling and radiant, but prolonged exposure to direct sunlight can cause damage to the camera's image sensor. Even if you use a half-lens camera, mirrorless camera, or card camera for framing, be careful even when framing with it. Although the shooting time circle is f/22, the lens uses a wide aperture when framing, and the camera is dangerous if the sunlight is too strong.
When shooting, do not open the aperture wide, it is recommended to reduce the aperture to f/14 or more, and do not face the strong light for a long time when shooting, so as to solve it quickly. In addition, attaching a UV lens to the lens can also reduce the damage of ultraviolet rays to the camera. So theoretically, it's safer to stop the aperture, increase the shutter speed, reduce the exposure time, and avoid direct light as much as possible.
Special warning: Do not look at the sun with your eyes in the viewfinder, as this will burn your eyes severely. The correct way is to frame with a screen, just look at the screen.
2. To control exposure, image quality is very important
When the aperture is reduced, the exposure time increases, especially in relatively low light conditions such as sunsets, and the ISO value is not easy to be too large to ensure image quality.
Control the exposure of the picture, and the effect of overexposed photos will not be obvious. Generally in the daytime, the effect of opening the aperture to F/11 is more obvious, and if you have high requirements for image quality, try not to open to the minimum aperture.
3. How to take photos with accurate exposure
The lens has a small aperture and is rich in detail in the bright areas, but it's easy to lose detail in the near and dark areas due to underexposure. Therefore, when shooting, you can use the flash to brighten the foreground and make the picture more layered, especially when shooting portraits, you can use the reflector to fill in the light.
Secondly, negative exposure compensation can be increased. The best way to do this is to fix the cameras and shoot separately, and then compose them in post.
The difference between telephoto and wide angle
In the same environment, the effect of the astrag is controllable. If you don't want to produce starlight, turn up the aperture, increase the shutter speed, use a wide angle, and vice versa if you need a star.
The length of the star's line mainly depends on the aperture and focal length, and both small aperture and telephoto can make the length of the star's line longer, but the longer the focal length of the lens, the weaker the starlight effect, to a certain extent, even if you use a small aperture, you can't shoot the starlight effect.
As for the angle, the starry effect will be more noticeable in wide-angle photos, especially when shooting landscapes, and many starry blockbusters on 500px are wide-angle.
In addition, there is another trick worth trying: when shooting, use stones, trees, buildings, etc. as a shield, it is easier to highlight the effect of starlight.
▲photo by Evgeni Dinev
Finally, it is a question that many friends are concerned about: can the mobile phone shoot such an effect?
In the case of mobile phones, it is a different matter, because the aperture of the mobile phone lens is fixed, so it is basically impossible to shoot good-looking stars. However, it can still be achieved with an external photographic lens, the key points: small aperture, long exposure, and slow shutter speed. If it really doesn't work, add a starlight mirror for your mobile phone...... Of course, the best way is to buy a camera directly!
epilogue
With enough theoretical knowledge + experience in practice, you can turn what you have learned into your own. When shooting, you should also be flexible, such as trying different focal lengths and applying occlusion, so that the stars will be more beautiful.
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