How to reduce lens flare and ghosting in photography
Lens flare and ghosting are two optical phenomena that every photographer eventually meets, whether shooting a wedding on a Sydney harbour ferry or capturing the rippled ochre of Uluru at first light. They arrive as bright streaks, polygonal blobs, hazy veils, or shimmering colour rings that seem to ignore every rule in the exposure handbook. For landscape photographers chasing golden hour along the Great Ocean Road, or street shooters dodging noon glare in Melbourne's laneways, these artefacts can ruin an otherwise perfect frame.
The good news is that flare and ghosting respond predictably to a mix of gear choices, shooting habits, and post-production work. By understanding how stray light bounces between glass elements, hits the sensor, and scatters across the image circle, you can plan a defence rather than rely on luck. Australian conditions make this especially relevant: the country sits under some of the cleanest, brightest skies on Earth, with UV ratings that regularly climb above 12 in summer, and coastal humidity that throws extra reflections into the mix.
Below is a field-tested approach drawn from real shoots in places like Brisbane's South Bank parklands, Perth's coastal cliffs, and the red dust plains around Coober Pedy. The methods work whether you shoot with a full-frame mirrorless body, an older DSLR, or a fixed-lens compact. They also pair well with the practical philosophy championed at sensorgraphy.net, where careful technique matters more than expensive equipment.
Flare versus ghosting at a glance
| Feature |
Lens flare |
Ghosting |
| Visual shape |
Hazy wash, streaks, or wide bright spots |
Sharp polygonal shapes, dots, or rings |
| Cause |
Stray light reflecting off internal lens elements |
Light bouncing repeatedly between glass surfaces |
| Best conditions for appearance |
Shooting near or toward the sun |
Side-lit scenes, backlit subjects, strong point sources |
| Common colour traits |
Reduced contrast, milky highlights |
Coloured ghosts (green, magenta, blue) |
| Primary prevention |
Lens hood, careful sun position |
Lens coatings, internal baffles, filters |
| Easy fix in editing |
Contrast, blacks, dehaze sliders |
Spot healing, radial masks, content-aware tools |
| Severity with cheap lenses |
Often very visible |
Frequently severe with unprotected front elements |
Both phenomena share a common origin: light that was never meant to reach the sensor finds its way in anyway. Flare usually affects the entire frame as a soft overlay, while ghosting tends to localise itself into recognisable geometric shapes, often directly opposite the sun within the frame. Recognising which one you are dealing with is the first step toward fixing it.
Photographers who shoot coastal scenes around Adelaide's Glenelg beach or Hobart's Battery Point tend to see more flare because of the wide horizon and reflective water surfaces. Ghosting, on the other hand, dominates when shooting through trees or past building edges, where the sun strikes a small bright region while the rest of the frame stays dark.
Choosing optics that fight back
A lens is the first line of defence, and modern coatings have changed the game considerably. Nano-coatings, fluorine front elements, and improved internal blackening all reduce the chance of stray light bouncing around inside the barrel. When shopping at Australian retailers such as Camera House or Ted's Cameras, look for terms like "ASC" from Canon, "Nano AR" from Sony, or "SMC" from Pentax. These layers suppress internal reflections that would otherwise form ghosting hotspots.
Focal length also matters. Wide-angle zooms between 16mm and 35mm are notorious flare magnets because the front element bulges forward and accepts light from extreme angles. Telephotos are usually better behaved, though they still suffer when shooting straight into the low winter sun in Hobart or along Adelaide's Glenelg beach at sunset. A fixed prime lens, particularly a 35mm or 50mm, often outperforms a zoom of similar price because it has fewer internal surfaces for light to bounce between.
Lens hoods deserve more respect than they usually get. The petal-shaped hood supplied with most kit lenses is engineered to block stray light without intruding into the corners of the image. Always attach it, even indoors under mixed lighting. If your hood is lost, a rubber collapsible model from a brand like K&F Concept, available at local chains such as Michaels Camera Video Digital in Melbourne, costs only a few dollars and slips into any camera bag.
Shooting angle, sun position, and camera settings
Sometimes the cheapest fix is to move your feet. Reframing a shot by even a few degrees can push the sun behind a tree, a cliff face, or the edge of a building, eliminating the direct light path into the lens. On the Mornington Peninsula, photographers often use the dense ti-tree scrub as a natural sun flag; in the Blue Mountains, the eucalyptus canopy serves the same purpose. Urban shooters in the Brisbane CBD lean on high-rise shadows at noon to escape the harshest overhead light.
Filters deserve careful thought. A cheap UV filter or cheap polariser with poor coatings can add its own ghosting, particularly when stacked. In Australia's strong sun, the temptation to leave a protective filter on permanently is high, especially on a windy coastal shoot where salt spray threatens the front element. The trade-off is real: a high-quality B+W or Hoya filter made with multi-coated glass adds protection without degrading the image, while a budget filter from an unknown brand will ghost under almost any backlit scene.
Stopping the lens down slightly often reduces flare because the smaller aperture blocks oblique light rays from reaching the sensor. Try moving from f/2.8 to f/5.6 or f/8 when shooting into the light. This is especially helpful when photographing the surf at Bondi Beach with the sun low over the Tasman Sea, or capturing the sails of the Sydney Opera House against an afternoon sky. Exposure also plays a subtle role: slightly underexposing a flare-prone scene preserves highlight detail and limits the brightness of any internal reflections. Modern sensors offer remarkable dynamic range, so underexposing by half a stop and lifting shadows in post is a routine strategy that fits neatly into any Australian landscape workflow.
Sensor cleanliness matters more than many realise. A dusty sensor, particularly one near the front element of a compact mirrorless camera, scatters light into bright soft spots that mimic flare. Schedule a sensor clean every few months, especially after dusty shoots in the Australian outback or during construction-zone street work in central Sydney. A rocket blower and a proper swab kit, available from local repair shops such as Camera Electronic in Perth, make a noticeable difference.
Post-processing for stray light
Sometimes flare creeps in despite every precaution, especially in mixed lighting conditions under Perth's famous golden sunsets. Adobe Lightroom's dehaze slider, set between +10 and +25, often cuts through the milky contrast loss caused by flare. Pair it with a localised contrast boost using a clarity adjustment masked to the affected area. Be careful not to overdo it; pushed too far, the image looks crunchy and unnatural.
For ghosting, spot healing and content-aware tools work wonders. Photoshop's Spot Healing Brush, set to Content-Aware Fill, removes the bright polygonal shapes that form opposite the sun. When the ghost sits over a complex background, use a small clone stamp pass with low opacity. Capture One users in Australia often rely on the Healing Layer for the same task, with similar results. Localised adjustments through radial filters or linear gradients let you target only the affected zone without darkening the whole frame.
Black-and-white conversions can also rescue flare-heavy colour images. The chromatic cast of many ghosts disappears naturally once colour is removed, and the resulting image often gains a cinematic edge. Many landscape photographers who shoot the red rock country around Alice Springs embrace this approach, treating flare as an opportunity rather than a flaw when the mood calls for it.
Field habits for Australian conditions
Local conditions shape how flare and ghosting behave. The combination of clean air, high UV, and reflective surfaces around coastal Australia means stray light has many paths into the lens. Shooting near Sydney's Bronte Beach at sunrise, photographers often notice increased flare because the rising sun skims across a wet sand mirror. Waiting an extra ten minutes for the sun to clear the headland usually solves it.
Travelling inland, the red dust plains of the Northern Territory and South Australia throw their own challenges. Fine airborne particles scatter light between the front element and the sun, producing a soft glow that resembles mild flare even when the optics are perfectly clean. A lens cloth kept handy, plus a quick breath on the glass before each shot, keeps the front element clear throughout a long day in the field.
CASA regulations for drones, including strict rules about keeping visual line of sight and avoiding flight near people, mean many Australian photographers use drones for aerial flare-prone scenes. Polarising filters on drones are especially effective at cutting reflections off water and foliage, which in turn reduces the light bouncing into the lens. Whatever the platform, the same principles apply: know your sun angle, attach your hood, and watch the corners of the frame for the tell-tale milky wash or coloured dots that signal stray light.
A final habit worth adopting is reviewing images on the rear LCD by zooming into the corners and edges. Hot spots and ghost shapes often hide there, invisible at a quick glance. Catching them on location saves hours in front of a monitor later.
Daily habits that keep images clean
- Always carry a microfibre cloth and a blower for the front element.
- Choose multi-coated filters when protection is essential.
- Position the sun just outside the frame for backlit scenes.
- Stop the aperture down to f/8 or f/11 in tough lighting.
- Clean the sensor regularly, particularly after dusty outback shoots.
- Keep a flexible rubber hood as a spare in every camera bag.
