Photo Safari: Hollywood Stars

It was serendipitous that I was looking for a starburst filter when I found two in a second-hand electronics store in Tokyo.

Marumi 52mm 8-cross filter

Takeaways: Using Starburst Filters

• It's a filter
• Starbursts are visible through the viewfinder, so you an easily compose the light before releasing the shutter
• Takes time to attach and remove
• The stronger the light, the greater the starburst effect (obviously)
• Starburst filters work well for creative/artistic photography

Kit

• Nikon D7200
• af Nikkor 35mm f/2
• Marumi 52mm 8-cross (starburst) filter

Story

I'd gone to a second-hand store at the behest of one of the hostel guests who wanted guidance there. (I'd already gone once before then.) I poked around the camera junk section while the guy was looking at some sort of music kinda thing. Of course, I ended up finding the filter box and, in it, two starburst filters: a 6-cross and an 8-cross. They totaled around $6, so I went ahead and bought them and tried them on my friend Omi's Nikon to see what things looked like. Nothing seemed wrong with the filters after I gave them a quick clean. (In fact, the glass is pristine.) I ended up giving Omi the 6-cross filter as a parting gift of sorts when he left the hostel.

A few weeks ago, I finally decided to give the starburst a whirl. I dragged Jesse back to Hollywood and we went out for the night, looking for cool lights to shoot. We didn't get far. At the corner of the hip stretch on Selma, lights from cars, shops, bars, and streetlights slammed together in the middle of the street.

Light Highway

Through some miracle, my first shot was pretty well exposed, so I just worked on getting the exact composition I wanted. I was curious to see how the lights strung over the cars would turn out, and I was a little surprised to see that they didn't show much of a starburst. I guess they were too small to make much of an impression, especially compared to the more exaggerated lights from the cars and streetlight.

We turned down Hollywood, walking along the shops that lead up to the major theaters. At one shop, we came across a rather absurd scene.

The Fuck? heh.

Some guy was trying to get into one of those risque shops, but the door was locked and he was knocking to get in. It was probably some dare or morbid curiosity because his partner and another couple chuckled about it in the background.

For whatever reason I picked up my camera and took a quick shot, completely forgetting that I had my filter on. It worked out, though. The bursts frame the figures without overpowering them. It's nice to know that the cross filter can work for portraits.

Eventually, Jesse and I made it to the theaters, which dazzled with light. The El Capitan was my favorite.

A little trippy

The bursts are really clear and add their own pattern to the others in the composition.