Lens flare

Hey everybody,

I've been here in Utah for 3 days now and the weather has really cooperated. I got some great images at Deadhorse Point SP, Canyonlands NP and Arches NP. I do have one issue though. This morning when I shot Mesa Arch, I got a really nice starburst...but a couple ugly lens flares...does anybody know a way to get rid of them without cloning? Any help appreciated. I had several other great shots from the arch but I really like this starburst and hope to salvage it.

Thanks,
Jack

Jack, Katrin Eismann's retouching book has a couple of good techniques for removing flare. Both are somewhat manual, but impressive. The easiest involves copying the channel with the least flare (usually it's worse in just one or two of the channels) then replacing the bad spot with the copied info and re-saturating. I know it sounds confusing, but makes perfect sense if you can read it in her book. So, this was just a long-winded way of saying, check out Katrin Eismann's retouching book. Good luck with this.

Glad you had a productive trip!
If you can post a sample image here, I bet that an answer can be found.

If you're shooting with a filter on the lens, take it off. That will reduce flare.

Adjust your angle a little and you will remove the flair in camera instead of time consuming process in Photoshop. However, I will look at Paul's recommendation in case there is an image that you can not avoid flare based on your subject. Post some of your pictures so we can see. Sounds like a fun trip.

I may be stating what you already know about preventing lens flare in the first place, and I realize that's not what you're asking about, but maybe somebody can benefit. Todd's comment about removing any filters when shooting towards the sun is very good advice, but also a spotlessly clean lens, lens hood, changing your angle, and using your hand or something out of frame to cast a shadow onto the lens are all helpful.
I'll have to check out that book though, because I really have a hard time removing them in PS if they are not real small.

Im gonna try to post the image here tomorrow. This is one of those places that when the sun comes up, you are literally shooting straight into it. I did move side to side for other shots. I wanted the starburst that I had seen In some other photos. I did read a couple good things online about removal so I will try to remove the hard way.

Jack