This shot was a happy accident.

On a walk in Muir Woods, I stopped to shoot a dry creekbed. I was trying to block lens flare with my hand, but wasn't successful. When I got home and saw this on my monitor, I realized that the branches and leaves of the redwood trees had broken up the sunlight into lots of small flare streaks, something I hadn't realized was happening. The same scene a few frames later with the flare blocked was boring.

Canon 70D with 18-55mm lens at 18mm. Exposure f/6.3 at 1/60 at ISO 800.

Adjustments for exposure and contrast in Photoshop CS5.

Abe Wischnia
Santa Clara, CA