CD flare portraits

Grab your cd and follow these steps to add flair with flare to your photographs

Angle a CD in front of your lens and reflect light back into it to add a creative effect to your portraits

01 Go long

Any focal length above 50mm is perfect for this shoot. We used a 70-200mm f/2.8 to enhance the blurred flare effect we wanted. The longer the focal length, the easier it is to make close-up objects appear blurry when focusing on a subject in the distance.

02 stay shallow

To ensure the CD is out of focus, you need a shallow depth of field. The best way to achieve this, alongside the medium-long focal length, is to use a wide aperture, such as f/2.8. To balance the other settings automatically, use Aperture Priority mode.

03 speed up

Our aperture of f/2.8 gave us a shutter speed of 1/800 sec at ISO100 – plenty fast enough for handheld shooting. If in lower light conditions the shutter speed becomes too slow and the image is blurred, increase your ISO until your images are sharper.

04 stay close

Hold the CD as close to the lens as possible, tilting it to cover around 1/3 of the frame. Then, move it around and experiment with the angle. Aiming straight up gives you bright highlights from the sky, and a side-on approach includes some background.

05 be clear

How much flare you want is down to personal taste, but when composing your image, it’s important to leave most of the face unobstructed, to get a clearer view of the portrait – it’s all too easy to get carried away and completely obscure your subject!

06 find a balance

Play with the colour by adjusting the white balance. If you want cooler tones, choose the Tungsten or Fluorescent setting to increase the blues. For a warmer feel, use the Cloudy setting. Use a Custom white balance for a finely tuned colour cast.