How to capture 'God Rays'

NoviceRei

do you guys know how to shoot sun shafts coming out of the clouds or through tree leaves?

chiefmasterjedi · 09-14-2011, 04:49 | posts: 485 | Location: NC

Try underexposing the shot a little or spot meter on them.

ElementalDragon · 09-14-2011, 05:00 | posts: 8,249 | Location: Pennsylvania, USA

underexposure is probably the best way. Leaves the overall scene slightly darker, but the rays shining through should still look quite nice.

NoviceRei · 09-14-2011, 05:53 | posts: 2,118 | Location: Philippines

would shooting with longer exposures help?

Xendance · 09-14-2011, 07:21 | posts: 5,289 | Location: Funland aka Happycamp aka Finland

...do you understand what causes sun shafts in real life? There should be fog or really really humid air for the light to scatter and create the visible sun shaft, you can't capture that with just a camera

Real life isn't a game where you get sun shafts simply by looking at the sun through the canopy.

NoviceRei · 09-14-2011, 07:43 | posts: 2,118 | Location: Philippines

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xendance

...do you understand what causes sun shafts in real life? There should be fog or really really humid air for the light to scatter and create the visible sun shaft, you can't capture that with just a camera

Real life isn't a game where you get sun shafts simply by looking at the sun through the canopy.

partial, but yes, i do. small particles such as dust or water reflects light coming out of small openings like windows. anyway, i was just wondering if there are techniques that i don't know that can help, that's why i asked. thanks anyway.

chiefmasterjedi · 09-16-2011, 22:38 | posts: 485 | Location: NC

Quote:

Originally Posted by NoviceRei

would shooting with longer exposures help?

I don't think that long exposures will help capture the sun shafts any better but it will help capture a more dynamic photo with some motion blur from the clouds or maybe from traffic on the ground.
I would try spot metering on the shafts in manual mode, then have a look at the image on the LCD and adjust your exposure to your tastes.

TARNY · 09-17-2011, 23:39 | posts: 180 | Location: Ardsley

I use smoke bombs from any DIY hardware stores in the plumbers department and use them on a sunny day especailly in some forest or wood..gives a really good effect and you get your rays that way..

inklimited · 09-14-2011, 08:15 | posts: 6,140 | Location: NSW Australia

Cheat.

Use smoke.

naike · 09-14-2011, 19:43 | posts: 1,955

Those circumstances are perfect for HDR photos!

Colin4May

Quote:

Originally Posted by inklimited

Cheat.

Use smoke.

Would dry ice work??

EspHack · 09-14-2011, 23:37 | posts: 1,553

a couple of years back i remeber shooting pics of these things with my poor moto Q9's cam, is that hard to take them? :S

sirrith · 09-26-2011, 23:47 | posts: 1,574

You don't really need to do anything special. Just expose for the brightest part of the sky/cloud where the rays are coming through, like this:

holyrood pano sunset by noobographer, on Flickr

This is actually a panorama with ~8 shots stitched, the shutter speed was around 1/3200.