sun spots in photos

thebaz

sometimes i like taking photos of sun reflections , but recently i have noticed that when i do, i get these coloured spots near the bright source , and they seam to have become more pronounced recently.
Is this a problem with my lens, or just an inherent problem when trying to shoot reflections from a bright shining sun .
I have included a sample photo.
Thanks.

bp_me

Thats lens flare.....

From memory the best solution is to make sure the lens is in shadow when taking the shot....I could be wrong though.

B0rG

In russian we call them hares :-) That's what you normally get when you're shooting against the sun. Lens blend helps little against them, but not if you're aiming directly at the sun.

to get rid of them:
1. do not shoot against the sun
2. clean lens front and back
3. use blend
4. good lens quality (L class in canon) uses special lens coating on all of the lenses in the system to minimize hares...

kinda like this...

thebaz

as i say , it seams to be getting more pronounced, can i get a filter to protect against this flare ?

B0rG

polarizer filter can help with some of them, but not all.

Roen

Polarisers will help, use the circular type and not the older linear ones, but bear in mind a cheap filter of any kind is a flare magnet. Lenshoods are a must though.