help..how does this photographer make the sun look like that?

[jgjonathangoh]

Have a look at this pic,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/automatt/371114668/

Its a HDR that look pretty natural, but whats been bugging me is how does he achieve the starburst effect on the sun! Looks like photoshop? or not.. Can star filters create such pics too?

 

[Octarine]

A small aperture opening (f/8 and smaller) will also cause the starburst effect.

 

[Doctor Inferno]

Yeah it's the smaller Aperture.

 

[rexlim]

He's using a lens wif 6 blade iris(aperture blades). That's y u c a 6-pt starburst...

 

[daoism]

interesting!

 

[Override2Zion]

Just use a smaller aperture, or create your own desired aperture shape with a piece of cardboard

 

[shelomoh]

Wow, that's Point Reyes lighthouse, at the northern most tip of California. I have been there before and it is not easy to get this kind of good weather.

Anyway, you can use small apertures from f/11-16 or even up to 32 (if your lens have it).

At night, try it and shoot against a lamp post (with light) to see if it is shape you want. For some lens, f/8 onwards will give you this star light effect.

You can also use star light filter.

You can also try shaped bokeh which is basically you call the shape of how you want your bokeh will be like but I doubt the image was taken with a shaped bokeh because for shaped bokeh generally you need big aperture. For that shot, I think the photographer use small aperture to get more in detail.