Ever wondered why you see the rays of light emanating from bright lights in photographs. You never see them with your eyes so they can’t really be there.

I think we have become so used to seeing these rays in photos that an image without them would seem plain wrong. A clue to why they are there is in the number of beams. In this image you can see 14 beams and it is no coincidence that the aperture on the lens I used has 7 leaves and when stopped down from wide open has 7 sharp vertices around the periphery of the aperture.

This sunset aligned with the shore of Lake Fellmongery shows the effect beautifully as captured through a stopped down 15mm fish-eye lens.

Photo: Robert Rath, ‘Day 449, Sunset Silhouette’ 1/2000s f/22 ISO50 15mm