Putting the infamous Lens Flare to good use

[iambanana]

Is it possible to use photoshop's Lens Flare tool in a positive, constructive way? Do you have any examples to show us?

I guess it could be used if you're making a hyper realistic painting. Am I right? Am I wrong?

[Grief]

i swiped this image off a blog from a girl over on the sleepywood forums (hope she wont mind me posting her stuff)

i enjoy it even with the obvious lens flare
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[That fat kid]

The lens flare is a defect of photograpy. Hyper Realism would imply that there wouldn't be any need to show the artifice and failures of capturing an image with a camera.

When you look at stuff, do you see lens flare in your normal vision?

[Viridis]

I actually just asked this question (http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=137908), although my post included things like the leaf brush and other filters (cloud filter) as well as lens flare.

For lens flare especially, I would say "no," it shouldn't be used. As the previous poster said, lens flare is a quirk of photography; there's no need to reproduce photographic failings in realistic painting. And using it as a "magic effect" or something in other paintings is just generally a bad idea. It never looks right, and it's also a hallmark of amateur digital artists, so I think it kind of kills your credibility a bit as well.

[Grief]

i was watching some episodes of Samurai Jack awhile back and kept noting the use of lens flare accompanied by a TWING metallic sound affect.

never should it be used in substitution for ability to draw. (which can be said of any filter)

[Meloncov]

I know at least one John Howe painting uses a lens flare, though it was painted rather than filtered.

I've seen starscapes that use lens flares subtly with some success.

[HunterKiller_]

Wtf are you guys talking about?
Lens flare is fucking awesome.

[Dylan.Ashby]

If you have ever watched any of Makoto Shinkai's animated films you will notice he has a big thing for lens flares. There painted though.

[Max Challie]

I think the problem with the lens flare is that it isn't something you would see with the naked eye; it's not something you would see naturally. You only see it through a mechanical lens.

I think it would work if you were to apply it in the right context, e.g. "a landscape seen through the eye of a robot". Or in a first person shooter, if the sun projected a lens flare when you were wearing a helmet, but didn't without it.

[MiniGoth]

Depends upon the subject. I do recall a lens flair effect being used in Shrek at one point - it helped fuel the illusion of watching real people.

[tomwaits4noman]

you can use the wave distort tool in photoshop on len flares to create some interesting effects, I think every filter and tool has its place even the smudge, blur and dodge tools its making sure you don't over use them is the trick

[Farvus]

I think lens flare would fit well into some space pics. The sky filled with stars and some planet can be boring visually beacause there isn't many shapes. Lens flare circles from some distant star can add perspective or dynamics to the pic.

[kingshaj]

it is becoming a trend in SFX to imitate photo anomalies for "hyper realism" camera shake, lense flares ...auto zoom/focus, etc. (starwars most notably, perhaps the only good thing about the prequels IMO.)

"hyper realism" isn't defined as realism it is "reality plus", that is to say it uses the flaws of our perception to make things appear more real than the real....,this is most often achieved by clever use of the flaws in our perception. Photography as well as film and video anomalies.


there is nothing wrong with intelligent use of this or any tool, its just seen as incredibly unfashionable to some, and you will hear about it. kind of like wearing a headband to a wedding.

the idea of accurately imitating ocular perception goes right out tha' window with anime. its clearly meant to be perceived as stylized and illustrative. to evoke rather than recreate. hyper realism would have also required a nose...so that is obviously not what the artist was going for.

i think it works here .. i have other issues with the execution, but the lens flare isn't one of them. it is used tastefully

[sodAp]

you can use it to illustrate why you shouldn't be using it in the first place

[BlackGuy]

As with most "taboos" in art/film/writing, a skilled person can pull it off.