For the first time ever, I think, in the 15+ years I have lived here in Texas, I drove over to Brazos Bend State Park in the late afternoon. Being the morning person that I am, I usually visit this park during the slightly-post-dawn hours before anybody else arrives.
The day was clear and cool and I thought it would be a nice time to try for some evening photos. Plus, it gave me the opportunity to practice my starburst skills on the lowering sun.
How is this accomplished?
Set your aperture to f22. It’s as easy as that!
Of course, you’ll need to work with your shutter speed and ISO to assure you aren’t getting a totally under-exposed image in your quest for a starburst effect. An aperture of f22 means not much light is getting through to the sensor via that route.
I played around with the ISO so some of these mages are at 320 while others are at 400.
My shutter speeds ranged from between 1/20 to 1/13 of a second.
Needless to say, this was all done on a tripod.
Note, the longer the shutter speed, the larger and more pronounced the starburst effect. These images were shot using my Canon 5D Mk III and 16-35mm lens set at 16mm.
Now that you see how easy it is to get a starburst effect, go on out, yourself, and have some fun with your camera and lens setup and f22 your way to a neat starburst.
Where The Trails Take You Photography 
These are so beautiful, well done. I do want to add a little information for others like me who don’t have Super great lenses. The number of Rays on a Sunstar directly correlate to the number of shutter blades on your lens. Some lenses, especially kit lenses, might only make five rays. Also even with F-22, the clarity of the rays varies a Great deal. So if you try and try to get a nice SunStar, you think you’re doing everything right, but all you get is a little five or six pointed somewhat fuzzy star, it might be the quality of your lens. I explain this to help others avoid the frustration of wondering what they were doing wrong, like me!
Thanks for the great information, Starlisa.
You are welcome! In spite of trying many many times, I have never been able to produce sun stars like the ones you have here. It doesn’t stop me from trying though 😉
I just realized in looking back through files, that I do have a few good sunstar shots… they were taken mostly with my little 50 mm 1.8 lens. Unfortunately it has fallen apart and given up the ghost but they are pretty cheap, I shall have to invest in another one day.
I have to say again, this set of images is gorgeous!