The
following are images taken from the boom position of a McDonnell
Douglas KC-10 Extender aircraft while refueling an F-22 Raptor over
Syria. The point of these pictures here is to demonstrate a good
use of motion blur and a form of lens flare both “normal” and
“atypical” as used by our unwitting photographer for the benefit
of those interested in the arts of visual effects.
In
our first picture we have the image of a stabilized F-22 underneath
the KC-10 with the city in the distance. The F-22 has matched its
motion to the boom and our photographer so there is no motion blur
(there is actually a tiny amount) but the ground underneath the plane
is moving at a steady clip as you can see by the streak of its
lights. Additionally both the bright distant lights and lights/reflections on the airplane itself are demonstrating what we might
call “typical flare”, e.g. a roughly circular, symmetric and Gaussian glow on top of (double exposed if you will) the base
imagery. Also look for saturation blowout where the image “becomes
so bright” that the color is attenuated to “a very bright”
white.
In
the second picture, our eyes are drawn to the green flare on the left
side of the image. The conceit here is that there has been some
moisture on the lens, whether from rain or condensation or other.
The water distorts the otherwise circular flare (as maintained for
the red light) into a idiosyncratic and atypical flare such as we
might see in the so-called real world, which in fact this is.
Notice
that the lights on the ground are far less noticeable as we have
moved over a more rural part of Syria.
In
our final image, we have a different point of view. The fighter
still has matched motion to the boom and hence no noticable blur, but
the lights are also seen from a different angle and more in the
distance, so there is also less blur.
The
funny thing about motion blur done well is that at speed the apparent
blur disappears.
Wikipedia
page on the KC-10
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