Flare as a creative tool

Back lit scene ... 9:00AM ... Clear sky

The sun is still relatively low and behind the subject.  This is a formula for flare.  The lens shade is attached, but the lens is wide angle and the shade doesn't do much to protect the lens from flare and veiling.  But shading the lens with a hand makes a difference.

Here's the image sufficiently shaded with my hand to eliminate the flare.

But sometimes the flare can add a useful element to the composition. It's a simple matter to experiment and immediately review the results on the digital camera's screen.  Removing the shadow from the hand, the flare creates a sort of cascading waterfall of veiling light and color.

Slightly moving to change the optical geometry of the flare, and changing from portrait to landscape orientation, results in this image.

I consider this one the keeper.  With a bit of spot removal on the circle just above the top leaf in the middle, and adding some vignetting, here's the resulting final image: