How do I get a sun flare?

[Father-Nature]

So I took this picture trying to get the sunset on camera. But I really don't see the sunset at all! Is it possible to adjust this in photoshop or did I do something wrong while taking the picture?

 

[photo1x1.com]

Hi,
well, there are different reasons why you can´t see the sun on sunset images.

1. the image is too bright. On this particular image, you´d have to shoot it darker to see the silhouette of the sun. This is usually done with exposure compensation, or shooting in manual mode. This would also mean, that the castle will be a shilhouette only.
2. it is too early for sunset (you can still make the image darker, but then it won´t be a real sunset picture) - the further the sun is down, the easier you get that nice silhouette, because the sun in relation to the surrounding sky and landscape looses luminosity (well, not really, but since it has to shine through all the particles in our atmosphere, the light that arrives at your lens is less). In your image it could have been later, but of course you would have been behind the castle then.
   
3. there are too much light clouds and the sun will not appear as a ball, but rather as a big glowing mass.

Was that what you meant? I drew that conclusion from your description, because sun flare is usually a description for reflections created by a lens. Newer lenses still produce that flair, but older lenses were much "better" - some would say worse because that is not always a desired effect.

 

[KmH]

Much of the sky is 'blown out' and there is no detail left that can be recovered.
A color digital images has 3 color channels - red-green-and blue.
The maximum lumonosity value for each channel is 255.
When all 3 color channels are max'ed at 255 they are pure white and there is no detail left.

With as much dynamic range as the scene had you would have needed to make 2 exposures, one correct for the sky and 1 correct for the land that the 2 photos would then be composited post process in an application like Photoshop into a single image.
compositing landscape images in photoshop

Understanding Dynamic Range in Digital Photography
Understanding Camera Metering and Exposure
Photo Editing Tutorials