{"id":96648,"date":"2017-11-09T06:00:53","date_gmt":"2017-11-09T12:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/?p=96648"},"modified":"2017-11-09T10:12:52","modified_gmt":"2017-11-09T16:12:52","slug":"create-realistic-lens-flare-resolve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/create-realistic-lens-flare-resolve\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Create A Realistic Lens Flare In DaVinci Resolve"},"content":{"rendered":"

Need a\u00a0lens flare for your shot? Avoid the unimpressive plug-ins\u00a0and\u00a0customize your own flare in DaVinci Resolve.<\/h2>\n

When VideoCopilot announced their Optical Flare plug-in in 2009 (released in 2010), my heart filled with joy knowing that every single shot from my DV camcorder would\u00a0now feature a lens flare. They are the\u00a0icons of blockbusters, right? Nearly a decade later, I now spend as much time as possible\u00a0keeping my shots flare-free.\u00a0How times change.<\/p>\n

However, if\u00a0you need to include a lens flare in your shot for creative reasons \u2014 see J.J. Abrams<\/a>‘s reasoning for excessive lens flare in Star Trek<\/em><\/a> \u2014 or\u00a0if you need to match a flareless shot with another flared shot\u00a0in your scene, you\u2019re typically going to need a plug-in like Optical Flare. The majority of NLEs come with a flare plug-in, but as you can see with Premiere’s below, they typically aren’t that great.<\/p>\n

\"How<\/p>\n

In the studio version of Resolve 14, however, there\u2019s a flare plug-in that’s it\u2019s incredibly powerful. I find tutorials for effects that are very shot specific \u2014 such as a lens flare \u2014 are difficult to produce properly because everyone\u2019s shot will be different. The flare will differ depending on the light source, lens type, aperture settings, and more. If I document a method on how to produce a flare from sunlight, it may look completely different on your footage. Therefore, we will look at how the plug-in works by fixing a problem I have with a shot, and we will explore the different areas of the plug-in in the process.<\/p>\n

The Basics<\/h3>\n

You can work with the effect on the Edit Page. However, you\u00a0can’t move the flare around within the viewer, and for that reason, I recommend working with the flare in the color page.<\/p>\n

This is the problem that needs addressing. We have a long shot of the musician sitting on his flight case, and it cuts to a close-up, but only the close-up\u00a0features a lens flare, and the director wants both shots to have the same flare.<\/p>\n

\"How<\/p>\n

In the color page, add a new node, and add the Resolve Flare effect found under Resolve Light FX to the node.<\/p>\n

Now you need to jump over into the effects settings panel.\u00a0This effect offers\u00a0an abundance of customizable properties.\u00a0Since the flare is an optical element produced by the lens, you have to make sure it looks real. Resolve gives us the tools to do so.<\/p>\n

\"How<\/p>\n

The lens flare settings\u00a0break\u00a0down into six control areas: flare presets, position, global corrections, aperture, elements, and global blend.<\/p>\n

While there aren\u2019t as many built-in presets available as there are in Optical Flares, the eight presets cover the basics you expect from\u00a0the most common light sources \u2014 and of course, these are all highly customizable.<\/p>\n

To replicate the evening sun, I\u2019m going to select the late afternoon preset, which presents us with a flare that mimics the setting golden sun.\u00a0Initially, it\u2019s not in the correct position, so with the OpenFX overlay activated, I can quickly reposition the starting point of the glare within the viewer. If, however, you prefer to use the sliders, you can do so by opening the Position panel in the settings menu.<\/p>\n

\"How<\/p>\n

From the edits we’ve made so far, we can see that the two top panels are the control areas that create the foundation of the flare.<\/p>\n

Creative Elements<\/h3>\n

Looking at the shot we need to match, you can see we still have a few steps to complete to make the flares\u00a0look identical. First, we need to remove the starburst.\u00a0You can do this in the Elements panel. This panel is the control area for each layer and individual element of the flare.\u00a0I would argue that this part of the plug-in is the magical component \u2014 you can really customize every aspect\u00a0of the flare. You could even create some sci-fi effects with this plug-in. You don’t often see this kind of power with a plug-in or effect in an NLE.<\/p>\n

\"How<\/p>\n

In the Show Controls For drop-down menu, you can find a host of different elements to adjust.\u00a0Since the shot we are trying to match doesn\u2019t have a starburst, we need to reduce it, so it\u2019s barely visible.<\/p>\n

\"How<\/p>\n

Since we’re already in the Elements panel,\u00a0I also need to remove the ghost elements of the flare\u00a0because they are not visible in the shot we are trying to match. We can do this by changing the type to “none.”<\/p>\n

\"How<\/p>\n

This is how the shot currently looks.<\/p>\n

\"How<\/p>\n

It’s getting there, but we need to increase the size of the flare spot.\u00a0We can do this with the Global Corrections panel. However, this settings panel affects all<\/em> areas of the flare. This is great for adding blur or colorizing the entire flare, but for individual element adjustments, you’ll want to stick with the Elements panel.<\/p>\n

\"How<\/p>\n

Therefore, we need to reopen the drop-down menu and select Show Controls For Flare Spot. Here, I\u2019m going to increase the size, reduce the irregularity (which will factor for light streaks), enhance the softness, and color the flare similar to that of the close-up.<\/p>\n

\"How<\/p>\n

Finally, I’m going to colorize the ghost elements at the bottom of the composition to better match the close-up, and this is the final result.<\/p>\n

\"How<\/p>\n

Based on\u00a0what we started with, I think these two shots will now cut together quite nicely, and I’d be very surprised if the audience\u00a0could tell that the flare is computer generated. While we’ve covered the majority of the functions in the plug-in, we haven’t discussed Global Blend and Aperture. Global Blend has one slider function, and that is to set the amount the flare blends with the source media. The Aperture panel will allow you to adjust how many blades make up\u00a0the iris. As a six-bladed aperture will create a different starburst\u00a0than a seven-bladed aperture.<\/p>\n

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Lewis McGregor is a certified BlackMagic Design DaVinci Resolve Trainer.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Looking for more information on DaVinci Resolve? Check out these articles:<\/p>\n