Real Lens Flares

ANAMORPHIC LENSES

For decades, anamorphic lenses have been highly regarded in the film industry for their ability to create a unique, visually stunning look that is difficult to replicate with traditional spherical lenses. Anamorphic lenses squeeze a wide image onto a film or sensor, allowing for a wider field of view and a more immersive, cinematic experience. When this image is printed or projected, an anamorphic lens stretches the image back to its original proportions, resulting in a wider aspect ratio than what the capturing film or sensor would normally be able to provide. Everyone who survived the 4:3-to-widescreen paradigm shift knows how a wider aspect ratio creates a more immersive, cinematic feel, which is why anamorphic processes remain popular in the film industry.

That said, anamorphic imagery is not always the right call. For a great backgrounder on how anamorphic lenses developed and why they were/remain popular with certain cinematographers in certain circumstances, we recommend this video from Media Division. It’s over an hour long but brilliantly informative.

Anamorphic lenses are known for their distinctive horizontal lens flares, which can add a dramatic and stylized effect to the image. For proof points, see the almost comical number of anamorphic lens flares in J.J. Abrams’ movies. (He’s backed off on the flares since his Star Wars work.) These flares are created by the anamorphic lens’ cylindrical shape, which causes light to refract differently than it would through a traditional lens. Depending on the lens construction, it’s possible to get anamorphic “squeezes” in both horizontal and vertical directions. Understanding the geometry of anamorphic artifacts can be counter-intuitive and mind-bending, but if you want a thorough understanding, watch this.

Anamorphic Lenses

Anamorphic lens support is now woven throughout Real Lens Flares. You will encounter it in multiple places, such as the Lens Pane (see below). In this context, we’re talking about the correction factor of an anamorphic lens, not the elements within it, which is why you’ll only see Anamorphic Factor offered when the entire lens is selected.

You can adjust the Anamorphic Factor for every simulated lens, with values spanning from 1.00 (no adjustment) to 2.00. This is shown on an Olympus 35-105mm lens below. Note that changing the Anamorphic Factor within the Lens settings applies globally throughout the image, meaning to all core projections and flare effects.

Technical note: The most common anamorphic factor in film is 2.0. This is the anamorphic factor of Cinemascope and Panavision. A 2x “de-squeeze” takes a 35mm “Academy” frame and stretches it to the cinematic aspect ratio of ~2.39:1. However, squeeze factors of less than 2.0 have become popular recently due to the prevalence of widescreen image sensors. Since most cinematographers strive for a roughly 2:39:1 final image, less squeezing is needed with wider image sensors.

When you select a core projection, you can make adjustments to its associated lens’ Anamorphic Factor in the Inspector Pane. For example, in the following image, we selected the Schmutz – Basic core projection and dialed its Anamorphic Factor up to 2.00.

See how the schmutz artifacts are vertically oval but the flare reflections are stretched horizontally? We accomplished this by boosting the Light Source brightness (1670%) and dragging the source to just off the left edge of the scene. We also raised the Reflections exposure (-4.45). Now you begin to see some of that Abrams/Picard stylization at work, albeit magnified here to obnoxious levels for the sake of illustration. Real Lens Flares lets you enjoy intriguing artifacts of anamorphic lens flares without the hassle and expense of physical anamorphic lenses.

Anamorphic Core Projections

In the prior example, you saw how adjusting the Anamorphic Factor in the Lens settings squeezed both the schmutz and reflections, because Anamorphic Factor applies globally. Real Lens Flares also gives you more granular control over anamorphic effects via core projections. Specifically, light-emitting core projections have their own Anamorphic Factor control. Because Schmutz and Reflection core projections don’t emit light, they do not offer this.

By default, all light-emitting core projections start with an Anamorphic Factor of 1.00, and their Auto Anamorphic checkbox is enabled. To change a core projection’s Anamorphic Factor, deselect the checkbox and adjust the Anamorphic Factor to any value from 0.50 to 2.00. Note in the side-by-side comparison below how values higher than 1.0 yield horizontally oval projections while values lower than 1.0 yield vertically oval projections. Also observe how these changes do not influence the spherical appearance of the reflections.

Need even more control? Let’s keep our sci-fi theme running with a tweaked version of Space Trek preset. In the image below, you can see how our Starburst projection (as well as all the other projections not shown) is at its anamorphic default settings, including having the Auto Anamorphic box checked.

Real Lens Flares lets you control the Anamorphic Factor for each core projection separately. For example, in the next image (left), observe how we put a 2x stretch on our Glowball. You can see it in the core projection thumbnail image. However, the Starburst remained unchanged. When we then add the same stretch to our preset’s Starburst, it subtly alters the look of the resulting flare effect.

We enjoy providing this level of control in Real Lens Flares. Just be sure to keep an eye on whether you want one, some, or all core projections to adopt the same (or different!) Anamorphic Factor changes.