How to Create a Lens Flare in Adobe Premiere Pro CC (2021)

Filming the sun is one of the hardest things to do well. Either the exposure blows out the entire sky, or you expose for the sun and the rest of your scene goes dark. One way around this is to film the shot normally and add a sun or light source later in post production using a lens flare effect.

Premiere Pro has a built-in Lens Flare effect that works surprisingly well for this. You can use it to simulate sunlight, car headlights, or any bright point of light. Let’s walk through how to set it up.

How to Add a Lens Flare in Premiere Pro

1. Create a new sequence and import your footage onto the timeline.
2. Find the point in the clip where you want the light source to appear.
3. Go to Effects > Video Effects > Generate > Lens Flare. Drag the effect onto your clip.
4. In Effect Controls, you will see the Lens Flare settings. Here you can adjust:
   • Flare Center to position the light source on screen. Click and drag the crosshair in the preview, or type in exact coordinates.
   • Flare Brightness to control how intense the light is.
   • Lens Type to switch between different flare styles. Each one looks different, so try them out to see which fits your shot best.

Working With Moving Shots

5. If your footage has camera movement, the flare needs to move with the scene so it looks natural. Click the stopwatch next to Flare Center to enable keyframes.
6. At the beginning of the clip, position the flare where the light source should be. Then move through the clip and adjust the position at key points. Premiere Pro will interpolate the movement between keyframes.
7. If an object passes in front of the light source (like a tree or a building), add a keyframe at that moment and reduce the brightness. This simulates the light being partially blocked, which makes the effect much more believable.

Creative Uses

The lens flare is not just for simulating the sun. Here are a few other ways you can use it:

• Interior lighting. Add a flare to a window or doorway to create the impression of bright light coming from outside.
• Sci-fi and action. Lens flares can sell explosions, weapon fire, or futuristic energy effects.
• Transitions. Increasing the flare brightness to full white and then fading into the next shot creates a nice light-based transition.
• Music videos. Animated flares add visual energy and work well with beat-synced editing.

The Lens Flare effect is a simple tool but it is incredibly versatile once you start thinking about all the places a bright point of light makes sense in your edit.