Using a Lens' Weakness as a Photo's Strength

Golden Light Silhouette

Believe it or not, I applied very little processing to this image. I had the 70-300mm mounted to Betty [Don't judge. -Gary] and saw the light shooting over and through the tree line as the evening wore on. What caught my eye was the "halo" effect of the light as it backlit the horses. I had planned to swap out the lens once I found my subject because it has a reputation of issues when shooting directly into the light (ghosting, flaring, artifacts, etc.), but I also thought that if I were careful, I might be able to get something like this....

I did nothing to change the color. I applied lens correction, punched up a few levels for clarity and contrast, cropped for framing, and applied a little sharpening, but processed this far less than I normally do other shots. In fact, the hardest time I had was cloning out about three artifacts.

I love the fact this shot turned out in reality the way I saw it in my mind.