How do I simulate a camera flash?

[Joey Foreman]

Lens Flare simulates the effect of light reflected back onto a camera lens when the beams of a light source enter it directly. You know – a lens flare. You see it in movies all the time.

Give CC Light Rays a try. You can position its point of origin, and I usually just apply it to a one or two frame adjustment layer. Tweak its defaults, give it a blue tint, etc.

Joey Foreman
Editor/Animator
Nowhere Productions, Athens, GA

[Pat Jaeger]

Ryan Wieber has a method of creating contact flashes when lightsabers collide which might work perfectly for a camera flash as well. Go to:

https://www.ryan-w.com/ryan-w/tutorials_sabers2.html

and follow the steps in the ‘contact flashes’ section

Pat Jaeger

[Doug Horton]

Ok great, thanks so much guys!!

[David Bogie]

If you want realism, shoot it. The problem with faking flashbulbs is the light source is a point. This creates directional light that casts hard focused shadows. You cannot put that in as a post production overlay with any convincing degree of “realism”.

needlessly pedantic:
Old photo flashbulbs were filled with a coiled metal thread or foil. When energized with a small amount of current with the shutter, an ignitor squib started a chain reaction that not-quite-instantly caused the metal to combust. There is a slight ramp-up of the light output from the bulb that is imperceptible but the end of the physical sequence is quite noticeable. The glass bulb envelope reaches red or white hot temperatures and, as the metal plasma cools, the amount of light ramps down and the color of the light changes.

bogiesan

This is my standard sigfile so do not take it personally: “For crying out loud, read the freakin’ manual.”