Create your own lens flare effect with the help of a naked flame

Lauren Scott shows you how to bring leak lights into the digital era using nothing more than a (carefully placed!) matchstick

Back in the good old days of film, if you had a gap in your camera body, light would leak in and tinge the film with colour casts across the frame. This exposure to light, or ‘light leaking’, was originally thought of as a problem. But it has also caught on as a creative technique that enhances images beyond their standard exposure.

Light-leaking can be emulated in digital photography, and is usually applied in post-production software by overlaying an image of an actual light leak.

However, there are still a few other ways you can introduce an intentional light leak in this digital era, with the result definitely looking more organic. Striking a match or igniting a lighter conjures up the warm orange flicker of fire, and in the project we’ll be placing this closely in front of our lens. Using a standard 50mm prime lens to focus on our model further in the distance, we blurred out the fire.

Once you’ve figured out the best settings to use for your environment, the rest is easy. To make sure you don’t melt your Canon though, we’ll walk you through the process…