Hey Jon - I love this shot. I am guessing it didn't do too well in good part because it's a bit flat. Adjusting the Curves would be a simple and very effective way to make it pop a bit more:
(hope you don't mind) - I just did Curves (ALT+I,A,V on the kybd), then clicked the "Auto" button and PS did the rest. Hope that is helpful to you.
I think this might work better if the background was less in focus. My attention is split between the subject and the helicopters - with both of them losing out.
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