Having glare on the glasses of your subject is one of the fastest ways to ruin an otherwise great photo. Luckily, removing minor glare in glasses can be done pretty easily in Photoshop. Best of all, I’ll tell you a few tips later in this post to help you avoid running into this issue again. Avoiding reflections while shooting can be done pretty easily if you stay away from a couple common mistakes. But first, let’s work on how to remove the reflection in glasses that you already have.
How to Remove Reflections in Photoshop
To remove reflection from glasses in Photoshop, first, open your image and zoom in (Command + on Mac, Control + on PC) to get a closer look at the glasses. In this example, we’ll be fixing the reflection on the left side of the glasses.
Removing reflections is a two-step process. First, we’ll fix the color, and then we’ll fix the brightness. Create a new blank layer in the layers panel. Change the blend mode of this layer to Color.
Press “I” on the keyboard to select the eyedropper tool. Now, you’ll sample colors from the image, and then use the brush tool (B) to paint color onto the photo. You’ll need to resample with the eyedropper tool every time you want to paint in a new area. You should be sampling a color similar to the color you would expect to be behind the glare.
Before you start painting, change your brush harness to 50%, then you can paint color onto the reflection. After you’re done painting, the colors should look accurate but still too bright.
Next, create a new layer again. This time, change the blend mode to Luminosity. Unlike the Color blend mode, which changes the color of the pixels you paint on, Luminosity only affects the lightness values of the pixels. For removing reflections, we’ll be painting with black. Adjust the opacity of your brush to 10%, and keep the hardness at 50%. You can paint over the bright spots until they blend in with the rest of the image.
Lastly, use the Spot Healing Brush to fix troubling spots. Create another new layer and grab the Spot Healing Brush (J). Set the Hardness of the Spot Healing Brush to 50%, and the Spacing to 30%. You can click and drag on any spots that are still appearing from the reflection. Try to make any changes you have made look as seamless as possible.
Remember that your changes don’t need to look perfect. The worse the reflection was to start, the more difficult it will be to remove. Keep in mind that we are viewing the image quite zoomed in, so slight imperfections that you can’t remove will not be noticeable when viewing the full photo. Try out these techniques to fix the reflection in glasses. Remember that practice makes perfect. The more times you try this, the better your results will be.
Apps to Use
Photoshop is usually going to be the best bet to removing reflections from glasses. Although, there are plenty of mobile apps that will provide very good results as well. For times where you’re on the go, and can’t get on Photoshop on your computer, turn to these mobile apps to remove reflections from glasses.
Lightroom Mobile
Lightroom Mobile is the perfect all-in-one photo editor. Not only can you apply regular edits to your photos, but you can also use the masking brush to select spots that need to be fixed. Simply tap and drag with your finger to select the reflection, and then you have a wide variety of sliders to use to help minimize the distracting glare.
Retouch Me: Body & Face Editor
In addition to hundreds of other face and body perfecting tools, Retouch Me has the perfect feature for removing glare and reflections on glasses. Under the “Face” section, there is an option to “Remove glare from glasses.” This is one of the fastest ways to remove glare and reflections from glasses. It’s as easy as a couple of simple clicks!
PhotoDirector: Photo Editor
The PhotoDirector: Photo Editor app is an overall great app with an easy-to-use interface for editing your photos. There isn’t an automatic option to remove reflections from glasses. Although, there are a variety of different ways you could do this in PhotoDirector. The easiest way would be by using the retouching tool. If this doesn’t work, you may get better results if you’re willing to spend the time retouching by using the color cloning tool. This is where you’ll select the spots that are receiving reflections, and replace them with similar looking spots on your image.
Fotogenic: Photo Editor
The Fotogenic: Photo Editor app has tons of great ways to edit your photos, including lots of different options to selectively edit your images. You can easily tap on a particular spot in your image and apply adjustments to try and remove the reflections from your photo. This app also has support for cloning, similar to some of the other apps mentioned above.
Snapseed
Snapseed has been one of the most popular apps for photo editing for a while now, and for good reason. Along with tons of great features — both beginner and advanced — you can also easily remove reflections from glasses and other objects with some of the tools provided to make local adjustments. In addition, you can use many of the filters and effects to minimize the reflection and draw attention back to your main subject.
How to Avoid Reflections When Shooting
Fixing reflections on glasses is no fun. Next time you’re going out to shoot, there are a few precautions you can take so you don’t end up spending time fixing glare in post processing.
Identify the Problem
First, consider why reflections are being shown off of glasses. It is most likely due to the angle at which your model is facing, or the angle in which you are photographing them from. Having your model turn ever so slightly one way or another, or moving the camera, can eliminate reflections all together. If the model can’t move out of the reflection, have them slightly angle their glasses down. Just enough to remove the glare, but not enough to make them look silly.
Adjust Your Lighting
If artificial lighting is causing the reflection, consider adjusting your lighting. Using a softbox or diffused light will help to make the light source less direct and therefore, reduce glare. Reflections thrive in harsh, direct light. This kind of light will make the reflections very obvious in your photo. You can also adjust the positioning of the light. If you’re experiencing harsh reflections, it’s probably because the lighting is about the same height off the ground as your model. Try to get the lighting slightly above or slightly below your model for optimal results.
Change Your Direction
If you’re shooting outside with natural lighting, consider the direction you are shooting. If reflections are causing a large issue, shoot your subject in the shade or with the sun to their back. Just like before, you can also have your model slightly turn their head, or angle their glasses downward to help remove or reduce the reflection.
Use a Filter
If all else fails, you can use a circular polarizing filter to help reduce reflections on glasses. Polarizing filters remove glare and reflections from things like glass, water, and even foliage. Dialing in a polarizer when you’re shooting a subject with glasses can help to reduce the amount of glare shown on their glasses. When purchasing a circular polarizer, be sure to pick up the right size for the front of your lens. Once you are in the field, it is very easy to use. Simply screw it into the threads of your lens, and then you can turn the front element of the polarizer until you see the glare start to go away. When using a polarizer, beware that it will slightly darken your photo. You’ll have to adjust your camera settings to compensate.
Conclusion
Removing reflections from photos is no fun. You’ll save a lot of time by avoiding them to begin with. If you spend enough time and effort, you can usually fix reflections in glasses, but it will rarely ever look perfect. Be sure to learn all of the tips mentioned here to avoid reflections while shooting, so that you don’t end up having to spend your time fixing reflections all over again. However, if all else fails, you can always use these tricks to remove reflections in glasses. Hopefully, this will help you to avoid asking your models to take off their glasses when you’re taking photos!
