Mega Flare

[kamboura]

Hello,
I took this picture using an old argus camera, and a 400 MM screw mount lens (to my best guess, early 70's technology). I was shooting towards the sun, and ended up with this mega flare in the lens at the bottom. I could see it in the focusing screen while I was taking the picture, I decided to take it anyway just to see how it looks like.

I am guessing in the future I should use a lens hood, and avoid shooting at the sun. However, yny idea how to fix this using PhotoShop?

Thanks

[another view]

A lens hood will be a big help. Not only does it cut down on flare - especially in a case like this where the sun isn't in the frame - but it will give you some physical protection to the front of the lens too. With a lens that long you can get a hood that's pretty deep, that will give you more flare protection. (And of course, you wouldn't want to put the sun in the frame with a 400mm lens, you'll go blind trying to shoot it!) Newer lenses are also coated to help with this - coated glass has kind of a bluish-purplish cast to it. If you had a UV filter on the lens, then most likely it added to the flare.

You probably won't get too far in Photoshop with it, but curves and contrast should help a little.