horizontal lens flare

A

azboy1985

Well-known member
I've seen in a lot of different music videos that they use the lens flare, but it stays horizontal... Is that a filter? or post production? and can it be achieved on a photographic lens? for 35mm adapter purposes...

Mcdermitts "I Still" uses it
 
I think it's the effect of the anamorphic lenses. Since the flare is inside the lens, I think it prints to the film in a circle, but when the image is projected it appears streched.
 
its a trait associated with anamorphic lenses.

Still, there are many flare filters that you can apply in post that will allow for a anamorphic flare.

peace.
 
I've found that you can cheat the anamorphic horizontal lens flare by simply smudging your lens (or hopefully filter in front of the lens) strictly vertical. Once you shoot directly at a source of light that may cause a flare, it will smear horizontally and stay that way. Pretty cheap, and you have to watch out that you don't end up revealing that the lens/filter is a little dirty, but it can be refined. Try it!

EDIT:

Here's a quick image to demonstrate what it will look like. It does tend to soften the image just a little with low light.

horizflare_1.jpg
 
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Yeah, I wouldn't recommend deliberately putting ANYTHING on your lens, not even a finger. Unless of course you are looking for a stylized original look, and are willing to risk damaging the coatings on your glass.

Like others have said, horizontal lens flare is a product of shooting with anamorphic lenses, which creates streaks from the elements in the lens. Another signature of anamorphic lenses is the ability to recreate light reflection in an elliptical shape rather than round, as it appears in spherical lenses.
 
Totally with you on this, Andrew. I strongly recommend that anyone trying this shies away from putting anything directly on the lens. All I did was rub my slightly sweaty finger downward on my uv filter. Not great to have oil on it, but at least it can be removed and won't do too much harm.
 
I believe (but could be completely wrong) that the flare is being stretched twice. I thought I read somewhere that the anamorphic lens stretches the flare wide across the squeezed frame, which is of course stretched back out when it's projected. Either way, I'd probably just do it in post, rather than smudge my lens. Or not worry about it too much.
 
Andrew Brinkhaus said:
They are compressed by the lens during production, then conformed back to the proper ratio in projection, so technically only once.
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Correct, sir. And yeah, it's basically just some sort of aesthetic choice. Personally, I love the way horizontal flare looks, and I love the way anamorphic lenses work, very fascinating. But I wouldn't really go out of my way to make sure I have that look. I was just playing around and realized you can sort of fake it.
 
Well not only does shooting in anamorphic yield specific visual differences, but it increases image quality. Rather than throwing out half the negative which isn't used in the widescreen format, 2x anamorphic can include twice the amount of image on the same film frame, resulting in a larger negative, and higher quality.
 
Andrew Brinkhaus said:
Well not only does shooting in anamorphic yield specific visual differences, but it increases image quality. Rather than throwing out half the negative which isn't used in the widescreen format, 2x anamorphic can include twice the amount of image on the same film frame, resulting in a larger negative, and higher quality.
Click to expand...

Oh, yeah I know. What I meant was that in faking it, it becomes an aesthetic choice. Sorry, I worded that poorly. I would LOVE to shoot anamorphic and squeeze more resolution out of my chips/film.
 
Lawsuit_Boy said:
I've found that you can cheat the anamorphic horizontal lens flare by simply smudging your lens (or hopefully filter in front of the lens) strictly vertical. Once you shoot directly at a source of light that may cause a flare, it will smear horizontally and stay that way. Pretty cheap, and you have to watch out that you don't end up revealing that the lens/filter is a little dirty, but it can be refined. Try it!

EDIT:

Here's a quick image to demonstrate what it will look like. It does tend to soften the image just a little with low light.

horizflare_1.jpg
Click to expand...

I had been trying to figure out how to get these flares on the cheap as well, I had heard that star filters are pretty much due to scratches on the glass so I figured the same principle would apply. I don't think I scratched hard enough, I just drew the edge of a razor across the UV--didn't get much of a result at all, only barely visible to the eye, not to the camera. The UV filter did end up producing a lovely circular flare though so that was cool.

I was on one shoot and had some dirt on my lens showing up in a surprisingly appealing way, so I figured that if I smudged just right maybe I could get that anamorphic look. Glad to see your experiment shows that too, I'll probably try again next time on the UV with smudging instead of a razor. My thought though was to paint on some Vaseline in a thin stripe on the lower third, and then wipe off with a lens tissue for best control--the thinner the line the better (won't know for sure until I've tried but it seems likely). Then maybe a few more for awesome's sake, once I know it works.
 
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azboy1985 said:
I've seen in a lot of different music videos that they use the lens flare, but it stays horizontal... Is that a filter? or post production? and can it be achieved on a photographic lens? for 35mm adapter purposes...

Mcdermitts "I Still" uses it
Click to expand...
Try shooting directly into a halogen work light. You'll get a horizontal blue flare right away without an anamorphic lens or jelly.
 
mburgh said:
Try shooting directly into a halogen work light. You'll get a horizontal blue flare right away without an anamorphic lens or jelly.
Click to expand...

This makes me curious... never heard of this... do you have a screen cap?

Vertical makes sense if you are using a CCD camera, but not horizontal.
 
I you want to get anamorphic flares in a safe way, you could get 'em digitally. Magic Bullet Looks has a filter for this.
 
Well, I know nothing about this (I'm a completely self-taught amateur), but I'd rather pay for some software (though I haven't paid for it :beer:) than mess up with my camera's lens.

By the way, here's another thread about it, it could be useful: http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=158416

Oh, and there are some particle systems that can emulate an anamorphic lens flare. You can download the free version of Particle Illusion, with all the free particle galleries and give it a try.

And Andrew Kramer from Videocopilot posted this AE project: http://www.videocopilot.net/blog/2009/02/anamorphic-lens-flares/

OFFTOPIC: Justin Kuhn, I've seen your demo reel. As a wannabe cinematograher, I must admit it has impressed me so much. Bravo!
 
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Paskaler said:
Well, I know nothing about this (I'm a completely self-taught amateur), but I'd rather pay for some software (though I haven't paid for it :beer:) than mess up with my camera's lens.
...
OFFTOPIC: Justin Kuhn, I've seen your demo reel. As a wannabe cinematograher, I must admit it has impressed me so much. Bravo!
Click to expand...

I wasn't suggesting direct application to the lens, merely to a piece of glass in front of the lens; in my case, a UV filter I paid $10 for. Anything on the actual lens should definitely be avoided. Don't want to rub off that coating.

And thanks!
 
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