Tag Archives: sunburst

September 22, 2018 · 8:38 am

It’s National Public Lands Day

Sunrise and sunstar over Upper Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

It’s National Public Lands Day, today, Saturday September 22nd, 2018. Where will you be? Perhaps visiting a national park, monument, recreation area or historic site?

The image above was not taken during National Public Lands Day, but rather during a very early summer morning while touring the boardwalks around Old Faithful, in Upper Geyser Basin. The back-lighting very nicely accentuated the steam rising from the geysers and hot springs, and I wanted to try for a sunstar as well, bumping the aperture up to f/18.

During the summer months, cooler mornings are the best times to view lots of steam as well as avoid the inevitable crowds, who usually don’t get out there until sometime starting at 8:00 a.m. Cool mornings (and wintertime) create more condensation in the air, which makes the landscape steamier than during the hotter portion of the day.

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Filed under Geology, National Parks, Photography, Seasons, starbursts, summer, sunrise, Travel, Wyoming, Yellowstone National Park

Tagged as back-light, backlight, Canon, geyser, hot spring, morning, National Park, Rebecca Latson Photography, rebeccalatsonphotography, steam, sunburst, sunrise, sunstar, upper geyser basin, Wyoming, Yellowstone, Yellowstone National Park

June 19, 2018 · 4:59 am

Creating A Sunburst In Your Photos

How many of you have seen photos like this one, where the sun appears many-rayed? It’s called a sunburst (aka starburst) and my article in today’s edition of the National Parks Traveler tells you what it is and how you can achieve one. Even if you don’t like the effect, you’ll still learn something about your camera’s manual settings.

Click on the photo above to be taken to the article.

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Filed under Arches National Park, Big Bend, Bryce Canyon National Park, Canon, Equipment, National Parks Traveler, Photography, Photography In The National Parks, starbursts, Zion National Park

Tagged as Arches National Park, Big Bend National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, Canon, National Park, National Parks Traveler, Photography In The National Parks, photography technique, Rebecca Latson Photography, starburst, sunburst, travel, Zion National Park

November 3, 2013 · 3:09 pm

A Little Starburst Fun at Brazos Bend State Park, Texas

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.

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Filed under Brazos Bend State Park, Equipment, Parks, Photography, starbursts, Texas

Tagged as aperture, Brazos Bend, camera, Canon, park, photography, Rebecca Latson Photography, starburst, state, sunburst, sunset, technique, Texas, TX