How do I achieve this star light effect? what filter or setting do I need?

GooniesNeverSayDie11 · Jul 22, 2011

You can often get the effect by stopping down pretty far ( f/22 or so ) Its caused by diffraction I believe. You can also use the filter if you prefer to have options in terms of aperture.

GooniesNeverSayDie11 · Jul 22, 2011

Here is kind of an extreme screwy version since it was blended exposures, I think it sort of increased the star effect on the sun. This was shot with no filters though.

Suguaro-Garden-HDR-extreme by GooniesNeverSayDie11, on Flickr

Edsport · Jul 23, 2011

Here's a link to photoshop starlights. Open the star photos in photoshop, select all and copy then paste into your photo and change blend mode to screen to get rid of the black so that only the star will be showing on your photo. Free transform will let you resize the star... Download starlights.zip from Sendspace.com - send big files the easy way

LaFoto · Jul 24, 2011

You do not need a star filter, nor would you have to do anything in post in order to achieve this effect, given the light source is tiny (as it would be with an LED light shining out through yet a tiny hole). All you need to do is choose a very small aperture (f16 or below), which - of course - calls for a long shutter speed, hence you will need a firm hand or tripod <- better!. And the shutter blades will create the effect for you.

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/landscape-cityscape/97159-scattered-showers.html

Take Photo 5 as an example on the effect achieved by using a tiny aperture only. No filters, no post.

mickmac · Jul 24, 2011

I shoot a lot of festive lights in my job. The way they are treated really depends on the product and the type of light it is giving off.

Sometimes I will shoot with a start filter

Personally, I'm not keen on the effect but you have to give the customer what they want.

Sometimes I will play with exposures and apertures to get a star from the light. I prefer this look. To me it looks a lot more natural.

Other times, the images are worked on in Photoshop to give the desired results. The graphic designers will create elements in Adobe Illustrator and then bring them into Photoshop.

A lot of the time, one image will be made up from 2 or 3 different images with different exposures. That way, you still have some detail in the cable/background while being able to get the starlight effect.

Josh66 · Jul 24, 2011

ghache said:
hurm, as far as i know there is no 10 point star filters....only 4, 6, 8, 12. Derrel is having a seizure again.

Count the points. There are 10.

If there are no 10pt star filters, then it had to be the aperture blades (5 of them) - but at f/4, that's unlikely.

I say, star filter or PS.

edit
6pt star filter:

IMG_8523 by J E, on Flickr