stopped down for a star burst

I took this one while on vacation on the south island of New Zealand. We were returning from the ski hill as the sun was setting on the mountain horizon. I shot this with the Fuji X100S, and positioned myself behind this old character of a tree. I used the tree to create a small bright sun spot, in combination with an F/16 aperture which gave a nice starburst effect.

I thought it tied into the composition well and added to the shadows and light streaks already created by the setting sun on the mountain silhouette.

I took a different shot of the same scene, without incorporating the scraggly tree. Taken looking directly into the sun, which really created a large flare effect. You can see the shot here. That’s one thing I found about the Fuji X100S. It does produce some heavy flare effect when looking directly into the sun. But on the other hand it can be used to your advantage.

Hope you enjoy the shot.