Editing jet fighter pics - engine exhaust

[PeteGB]

Took a load of picture of jet fighters with afterburners lit at the weekend.

I can see there is heat haze from the engines, and I’ve seen pics (some taken same place/time), where the processing has maximised the visibility.

After several hours of fiddling with white point/black point/exposure/contrast/sharpness/noise reduction etc I can’t seem to get it looking as I know it can be.

Anyone have experience of this that could share a few tips ?

Thanks.

Pete

 

[johnbeardy]

Have you tried a radial filter or brush adjustment with a bit of Clarity? That's my "go to" for the heat haze, though I keep it away from the engines themselves which I might correct with highlights, whites, saturation. In each case, it's a local adjustment.

 

[PeteGB]

Thanks John, I’ll give that a try.

 

[Linwood Ferguson]

You also have a lot more capabilities if you drop into photoshop, mask off the exhaust area, and then you can work specifically on it in a separate layer. Might try various opacities and layer combining types with filters like edge detect or some of the other artistic filters -- not full strength, but you can make an exaggerated look then blend it in with the layer combining tools. Caveat: I'm not very good at this myself, but I've seen people do it to great effect.

 

[PeteGB]

Thanks., I’ll try the Photoshop option also.

 

[ChuckTin]

Masking is your fiend, that's why it's such a beach.
Try Luminousity masking?