Lens flare from the sun

We are heading to the desert after Christmas and I want to try some of the great shots I see here with desert plants backlit from the setting or rising sun. When I tried it before I got a lot of lens flare. How do you get these shots and avoid the flare?

I’m sure there are a few ways to do this. I have used a two exposure blend. While shooting the exposure for the foreground I use my hand to block out the sky and sun, this helps the bottom portion of the comp. For the upper sky part of the comp I have been reduced to cloning, if possible.

I hope more advanced folks will chime in. I would like to learn more, too.

What lens do you use? Primes (usually) flare less than zooms, and some zooms flare more than others (for example, the 12-24/4 DX lens from Tokina is more susceptible than its Nikon counterpart in my experience).

Thanks for the replies guys.

Richard, nice suggestion. I often do an exposure bracket and then blend for the dynamic range but have not thought about blocking out the sun. BTW, cloning out lens flare is quite tedious.

Basil, usually I'm shooting wide angles in this case and I have a Nikon 10-24mm that I hang on my D7000. I suppose being a zoom would make it more susceptible to the flare then?

Another technique I have read about is similar. Shoot two frames for the sky. One frame will be shot while using only one finger rather than the hand, to block out only the sun (and the little bit of sky that can’t be avoided from using one finger) this frame will give you most of the sky, but without the sun and most of the flare. Then shoot another sky frame with the sun.

At this point you will have three frames, one of the ground, one of the sky with your thumb in the frame blocking the sun and a third with all of the sky. The third shot will be used for the sun only.

Blend to your heart’s content. I have never tried this method so let us know how it works…..

And of course not all backlit images require the sun to be in the frame. I will always try to angle the camera so I can simply shade the lens from the sun. These seem to be my favorite shots.

OK, I like the finger trick idea Richard. I'll give that a try.

Using the technique that Richard describes, I have found it best to switch to manual so your exposure stays constant in all 3 images. If you leave the metering on auto, when you block the sun with your finger, that image will be lighter than the ones with the sun in them.

Good point Phillip.

If you want the same exposure for the foreground and sky then yes, the same shutter speed for all three shots. But if one is bracketing exposures for dynamic range then the foreground frame will not be the same shutter speed as the sky frames.

But your point is spot on for the sky exposures. Lock down the shutter speed in manual for the sky shots.

All this talk of placing the thumb over the sun reminds me of eye safety.
It takes very little direct sun to cause eye damage. Be careful.
I like to switch to live view as soon as I’m locked down on the tripod.
Save the eyes.