Horizontal flares

vikash nowlakha · November 17, 2006

Was watching C.S.I. Miami and noticed a lot of horizontal flares with super sharp edges - also shooting right into the sun without any halation issues - and the foreground still being sharp ! Wondering if anyone knew how they achieved that. Cheers.

Matt Hingstman · November 17, 2006

Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe it is simply the result of shooting anamorphic. Not sure about the halation, though.

Brad Grimmett · November 17, 2006

I'm almost positive that CSI: Miami doesn't shoot anamorphic. They most likely shoot 3 Perf 35mm. Maybe the horizontal flares are added in post. As for the lack of halation when shooting into the sun.....I don't know.

Michael Nash · November 18, 2006

I'm almost positive that CSI: Miami doesn't shoot anamorphic. They most likely shoot 3 Perf 35mm. Maybe the horizontal flares are added in post. As for the lack of halation when shooting into the sun.....I don't know.

I've noticed that the CSI shows often use what appear to be Streak filters -- it bugs me when they're just slightly off from horizontal! :D

As for the sun halation; what exactly do you mean? Veiling glare (overall fogginess), or lens flares (more localized spots or fogging)? Halation technically is the bounce-back of light from the backing of the film (or the camera's pressure plate with still film), causing the edges of bright highlights to glow a little. The term halation is also used to describe similar glow you get with some diffusion filters (altough I'm not sure it's technically correct). In either case, I'm not sure how you could really distinguish halation around an object like the sun, unless I'm just misunderstanding.

Also keep in mind that the CSI shows go through EXTENSIVE color correction to get their look, so any veiling glare could easily be "corrected" out...

Jason Maeda · November 22, 2006

i had it happen today with a digital point and shoot. i was shooting into the sun, which was caught tightly between trees, and the flare went sideways. i thought to myself "that's odd"...

hope that helps,

jk :ph34r:

Charlie Peich · November 22, 2006

Was watching C.S.I. Miami and noticed a lot of horizontal flares with super sharp edges - also shooting right into the sun without any halation issues - and the foreground still being sharp ! Wondering if anyone knew how they achieved that. Cheers.

Hello Vikash...

They could be using Vantage Blue Vision filters made by Vantage Film, the makers of Hawk Anamorphic lenses. Vantage's home page.

vikash nowlakha · November 25, 2006

Thanks Charlie - that link was bang on !!

Tony Brown · November 30, 2006

Hello Vikash...
They could be using Vantage Blue Vision filters made by Vantage Film, the makers of Hawk Anamorphic lenses. Vantage's home page.

I had them on a night shoot for a Saab commercial in Czech Republic last year. Didn't use them as the effect wasn't strong enough and they add a super frost (the really old plastic ones) type of diffusion which I didn't like. The effect was irritating to me, just didn't believe it as an anamorphic flare.