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Editing jet fighter pics - engine exhaust

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PeteGB

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Joined
Aug 30, 2011
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65
Location
Scotland, UK
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Intermediate
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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
 
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.
 
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.
 
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