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Removing Street Light Flares in Street Photography

One of the pitfalls of photographing street scenes at night is lens flare, which is often caused by streetlights or other bright light sources. Flares occur in photographs when light hits the camera's lens and reflects off the internal elements. They often appear as colored stars, streaks or circles, and they have a tendency to wash out the rest of the shot. While flares can sometimes add a creative or candid quality to photos, they are usually unwanted. Preventing flares is relatively simple if you use a combination of certain photographic techniques, a lens hood and some filters.

Composition
- Compose the scene of your night photograph by finding the optimum location from which to shoot. One angle may pick up a great deal of lens flare, whereas a slight adjustment to a different angle may not. Zoom in or reformulate your composition so that the light hits the lens at different points. With a digital camera, you can take a series at several different distances.
Lens Hoods
- Attach a lens hood to your camera̵7;s standard lens. A lens hood is an accessory that likely came with your camera. Lens hoods are used to reduce or eliminate unwanted flare in photographs. This simple solution is comprised of small pieces of plastic with a non-reflective surface. It snaps easily onto the front of your lens. Some hoods are referred to as round lens hoods, while others are called petal lens hoods.
Create a Light Shield
- Shielding bright light sources with your hand can reduce flare in a pinch, if you don̵7;t have access to a lens hood. You can also use a black piece of paper, a dark hat or a scarf, as long as it provides coverage. If you are using a lens hood, you can block out even more light using a shield. Be sure to keep your hand -- or other objects -- completely out of the frame.
Other Lenses and Filters
- Use a multicoated lens to further reduce flare. Some lenses are designed to reduce flare from bright lights. You can also use certain filters -- such as yellow filters, warming filters or special effects filters -- to prevent flare; some reduce the overall light that's displayed in photographs and diminish the brightest sources. A combination of these techniques can be employed to create successful night photographs with no unwanted flare from street lights.

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