Add a starburst effect

Use a narrow aperture to bring some extra sparkle to the lights in your pictures

Setting a narrower aperture on the lens, such as f/16 or f/22, makes street lamps and other ‘point’ sources of light appear to glow. It’s a simple but effective technique that can really help lift a street scene.

The starburst effect is caused by light rays bending around the edges of the blades that open and close to form the aperture in the lens. The smaller the aperture, the greater this diffraction becomes; and the more aperture blades a lens has, the more points you’ll be able to capture in the starburst. Wide-angle lenses give a more pronounced effect.

The most effective starbursts tend to be those where there’s some subtlety to the burst. If it all becomes an expanding white-hot mess, then it can be distracting instead of complementary. Be prepared to underexpose a little in order to ensure the bursts don’t go nuclear.

As highlighted on the previous page, there’s a drawback to working with narrow apertures at night: longer exposure times. If you’re shooting handheld, you’ll need to rely on image stabilisation and higher ISO settings, and possibly compromise on the size of the aperture, to get sharp results.

Narrow aperture At f/16, the lamp has come to life, but the corresponding shutter speed required a tripod and meant that the people were rendered invisible. 13 seconds at f/16

Wide aperture The street lamp has a touch of glow at f/3.2, and the one-second exposure captures passers-by as motion-blurred figures that add to the mood. 1 second at f/3.2