Hi all - I'm still a relative beginner, but learning quickly, so forgive me if this is an obvious one! Only been shooting a short while, but having lots of fun so far.
I went out this evening to capture the sunset (first time I've shot the sun directly), however when shooting straight into the sun, I was getting a little lens flare, but LOTS of sun star effect. Whilst this can be pleasing sometimes, in the shots I took it's far too much and kind of ruins the photo in my opinion.
The shots were taken on a Sony NEX-6, kit lens with circular polariser, bracketing 5 photos, all at F16, combined in photomatix and a little dabbling in lightroom to bring the colours out. The processing isn't the issue, as the flares are all over my raw files.
I've read that opening the aperture can reduce this, but I don't want to lose my depth of field?
Is the kit lens the issue (I know the one that comes with the NEX-6 isn't renowned as being amazing...)?
Is there some way in post processing to reduce this effect?
Any helpful tips would be much appreciated!