reply to post by nablator
I now better understand your take on this, and due to a wee bit of homework, I have gained some knowledge as well. Now I make no claim to being
anywhere near an expert on these matters, as it seems you are. However, my lack of knowledge can be corrected. Nor has lack of foreknowledge on a
subject detered me from looking closer. (I question my doctor, though I doubt I'll ever be joining the AMA.

)
Let's start easy here, with wikipedia:
en.wikipedia.org...
Note the first two pictures on the right hand side of the page. In both, the flare washes out the image, toning down the view. This is also true of
photos 4 and 6. (Photos 3 and 5 are discounted on the basis of being an animation in one instance and the subject matter in the other.) In no picture
here is the flare itself
less visable than the object of the photo.
But let's turn to a few more pictures from another source:
pcin.net... Here are four photos, three of a bridge and one of some
woods. Again the light source washes out the object of the picture in theare it effects. The flare becomes dominant in the area where it interacts.
As further homework, I looked into non-image forming light sources, where the bright light causing the flare is not included in the shot. (Even though
you pointed to a source within the frame, I wanted to follow as many possibilities as I could.)
www.luminous-landscape.com...
The single photo here is of a wedding, and shows a remarkably beautiful flare. Again, when viewing the photo, the flare appears as a foreground item,
and not secondary to either the people or the band instruments.
Without comment, I'll show a few more:
www.photocritic.org...
www.digital-photography-school.com...
www.tzplanet.com/words/understanding-lens-flare/52
And now for a night shot:
darkphotography.org/2008/06/22/reducing-lens-flare-from-steetlights/
Now a special one. Here we have a very simular sitting to the photo in this thread. Note the multiple light sources from the front of the camera, and
all in frame, just as the China photo. In this image, all the bright lights are reflected as lens flares, creating a distinct "ghost image" effect.
(Yet the China image under discussion here, though having multiple bright points in frame, only created a single flare????)
www.vanwalree.com...
Now I grant that there is no teacher like experience, and I certainly don't claim to be a photographer. But I'm unable to find any photos where a
lens flare behaves in the manner you indicate. Nor am I able to find a single flare that "desolves" without distortion, or changing shape, as the
one in the China photo seems to do.
P.S., Here are some six other pages of videos I viewed in my search:
www.fotosearch.com...