The Best Lens Flare Photoshop Plugins

If you’ve ever looked at a high-end movie scene or a sleek digital ad and thought, “Wow, that lighting looks epic,” chances are, lens flares played a big part. These striking bursts of light are everywhere in visual media – from sci-fi blockbusters to glossy magazine covers. They add drama, realism, and style. And for creatives working in Adobe Photoshop, there’s a treasure trove of tools available to pull off these effects with precision. We’re talking about Photoshop lens flare plugins, and in this article, we’re diving into the very best ones out there.

Spoiler: Ultraflares by Richard Rosenman Advertising & Design tops our list, and for good reason.

What Are Lens Flares and Why Use Them?

Lens flares are light artifacts that occur when a bright light source hits a camera lens at certain angles. They’re technically imperfections, but designers and filmmakers have embraced them as a stylistic tool. Whether you want to add intensity to a sci-fi scene or give your portrait shots an ethereal glow, lens flares help create that extra visual punch.

They are a useful creative tool for focusing attention on a specific part of an image, or simply to add a cinematic aesthetic.

They’re especially effective for implying a light source just out of frame, enhancing realism, or simply amping up the mood. And in Photoshop, plugins make it easy to insert and customize flares without having to shoot them in-camera.

What to Look for in Photoshop Lens Flare Plugins

When you’re shopping for Photoshop plugins, especially ones designed for lens flares, there are a few key things to look for:

• Realism: Does the plugin create photorealistic effects or does it just slap on a cheesy glow?
• Customization: Can you control the shape, brightness, color, and texture of your flare?
• Library Variety: Does it include a good range of flare types, including things like anamorphic flares?
• Ease of Use: Nobody wants to spend an hour navigating a confusing UI.
• Performance: Plugins should be smooth and not slow your workflow.
• Anamorphics: Can it create anamorphic flares? These are long streak flares due to lens distortion.

While Photoshop includes a built-in lens flare filter, it is unrealistic and lacking any meaningful number of features required for professional results.

Ultraflares: The King of Photoshop Lens Flare Plugins

Out of all the Photoshop lens flare plugins, Ultraflares stands out as the most advanced and versatile. It checks every box you want in a lens flare tool and then some.

So what makes Ultraflares the best?

1. Photorealistic Rendering

Ultraflares is designed to replicate real-world optical effects. It doesn’t look cartoony or overblown unless you want it to. With support for 16-bit color support and non-destructive image processing, Ultraflares can render ultra-high-quality flares that maintain detail and depth across all brightness levels.

2. Extensive Preset Library

It comes packed with over 150 lens flare presets. And not just any presets. We’re talking about complex, beautifully rendered effect – from classic solar flares to modern anamorphic flares straight out of your favorite blockbuster. And if that’s not enough, you can purchase additional preset bundles which we’ll discuss below.

3. Full Customization

Each flare in Ultraflares can be deeply modified. You can tweak every component: spikes, streaks, glows, rings, noise, reflections, etc. Want a sci-fi beam? No problem. A subtle sunset glint? Easy.

4. Multithreading Support

Ultraflares was built with speed in mind. This means it supports as many threads as your workstation supports, making it a powerful tool for high-end machines.

5. Real-Time Preview and Rendering

Nothing is more frustrating than applying a flare and waiting 10 minutes to see what it looks like. Ultraflares gives you fast, real-time previews that make adjusting parameters intuitive and smooth.

Other Top Photoshop Lens Flare Plugins

While Ultraflares is our number one, there are a few other Photoshop plugins worth checking out:

Optical Flares

Although Optical Flares is designed as a plugin for After Effects, one can render static images for use in Photoshop. While this is not ideal and is somewhat time-consuming, it’s an option for those looking to have a unified solution that looks consistent across After Effects and Photoshop.

Knoll Light Factory

Another one originally built for After Effects, this plugin creates great lens flares. It offers a good library and a solid rendering engine, but it’s more at home in motion graphics than in still design. The Photoshop version has since been discontinued.

Filter Forge

While not solely a lens flare plugin, Filter Forge includes some decent lens flare generators among its many effects. It’s extremely flexible, but the photorealism often lags behind what you get from Ultraflares.

If you want something that seamlessly integrates with Photoshop and doesn’t require a workaround or a learning curve, Ultraflares is in a league of its own.

What About After Effects Plugins?

You might be wondering, what does After Effects have to do with Photoshop lens flare plugins? Quite a bit, actually. Many visual artists bounce between Photoshop and After Effects regularly. It’s common to use Photoshop for static composition and touch-ups, then import those assets into After Effects for animation.

After Effects plugins, especially those related to lighting and VFX (like Ultraflares or Optical Flares), help bridge the gap between still and motion design. Some of the Richard Rosenman tools, for instance, include both Photoshop plugins and plugins for After Effects, designed to work together. So if you’re creating a branded visual package or a sci-fi sequence, you can maintain visual consistency across both platforms. You can take a look at the complete After Effects and Photoshop plugins collection here.

It’s this cross-compatibility that helps make Richard Rosenman Advertising & Design such a trusted name in professional plugin development.

Ultraflares Presets

One of the benefits of Ultraflares are it’s expansion packs. Three separate flare packs exist allowing a huge collection of just about any type of flare required.

Ultraflares Flarepack Vol. 1 is a collection of 30 cutting-edge anamorphic lens flare presets for Ultraflares. 

Ultraflares Flarepack Vol. 2 is a collection of 30 cutting-edge cinematic lens flare presets for Ultraflares.

Ultraflares Flarepack Vol. 3 is a collection of 30 cutting-edge technology lens flare presets for Ultraflares.

Free vs. Commercial Photoshop Plugins

Let’s talk budget. There are some free plugins for Photoshop that can simulate basic lens flares, but they usually don’t offer the same level of control or realism as paid tools. Free plugins might give you a basic glow or halo, but they usually fall short when you want precision or a cinematic look.

With commercial options like Ultraflares, you get:

• A polished interface
• Faster rendering
• More presets
• Realistic results
• Dedicated support

If you’re doing professional design or aiming for portfolio-quality work, commercial plugins are worth every penny.

Final Thoughts

Lens flares aren’t just eye candy. When done right, they can add realism, drama, and beauty to your visual compositions. And if you want to nail the effect every time, choosing the right Photoshop lens flare plugin makes all the difference.

Among the many options out there, Ultraflares takes the crown. With photorealistic results, rich customization, and a user-friendly interface, it’s the ideal tool for creatives who care about quality. It doesn’t hurt that Richard Rosenman plugins also integrate beautifully with After Effects, offering a full-circle solution for both static and animated projects.

So whether you’re designing album art, crafting a movie poster, or building assets for animation, Ultraflares is the go-to plugin to bring your light effects to life.

And honestly? Once you try it, you won’t want to use anything else.

Check out the full collection of plugin here.