Wherever visitors go in Death Valley, ravens are sure to follow. I found this backlighted raven waiting for handouts in a parking area near Artist’s Palette. With a setting sun just behind it, the raven seemed to be enjoying his moment in the limelight. When we shoot directly into such light as this, we will usually get an image full of distracting reflections, known as lens flare. I minimized the distraction of lens flare by lowering the top edge of my frame as far as possible to cut the sun out of the picture. I took off my cap and tried to block the sun with it as well. I wanted the effect of a sunburst without all those little round distracting reflections that usually come along with it. And that is what happened here. The sunburst is there, but the distractions of lens flare are not.