According to the present invention, a lens flare generation method and apparatus are provided that may simulate lens flare effects through paraxial approximation-based linear approximation to generate a lens flare utilizing physical characteristics of a lens system while generating a lens flare at remarkably high speed as compared with the conventional art. Further, according to an embodiment of the present invention, a non-linear effect may be added to a linear pattern-based lens flare effect, generating an actual lens flare reflecting most of physical characteristics generated from the lens system. Further, use of a pre-recorded non-linear pattern allows for generation of a lens flare having a similar quality to the existing light tracking-based simulation at higher speed as compared with the conventional art without speed reduction.