Inspired by JJ Abram’s ridiculous liberal use of lens flare in Star Trek, I’ve been messing with flares on my own time. Using a basic dSLR and with various lenses at different aperture settings…
Canon EF 100mm F2 @ F22
EF 50mm F1.4
You’ll notice the shape of the flare is very different for different lenses, and also the aperture size(F-stop setting) plays a big part in defining the shape of the flare as well. In general, large f-number(F22) gives a more defined star-burst shape to the flare, while a small f-number (F1.4) gives a softer looking flare.
Anamorphic lens flares, which looks ‘cooler’ in my opinion, are harder to reproduce on a regular consumer camera because they require special anamorphic lenses.