Although the scenery in the image below of Gordes, France is spectacular, the “sunburst” or “starburst” created by the sun adds a nice finishing touch.
First Light Over Gordes : Prints Available
Beautiful sunrise over the hilltop city of Gordes, France
This is really easy to do. You will need a “point source of light”, such as the sun, somewhere in your image. To get the starburst, use a wide angle lens and set your f/stop to a small aperture, such as F/22. Then point the camera and shoot as normal. That’s about it. The starburst is created by the combination of a wide angle lens with a small aperture.
Here is another example:
Desert Sunburst : Prints Available
Morning burst of sun over the top of the dunes at Deadvlei
You can experiment with different f/stops to see what kind of effect you get. If the sun is large in the frame, you can create a smaller point source of light by positioning a foreground element in front of the sun to partially obscure it.
One thing to keep in mind is that working with a small aperture means a longer shutter speed is needed. So, don’t forget your tripod.